The Question Mark
by BioEye
Summary: Snake lies against the gravestone from the end of MGS4... and kills himself. He experiences flashes, until he wakes up half dead on Shadow Moses Island.
1. Departure

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**Author Notes:**

I've already been writing this story for a while, so I'm quite a few chapters in. It'll get epic. The following chapters contain spoilers to the Metal Gear Solid saga. So I highly recommend that you have played MGS1, MGS2, MGS3 and MGS4 before reading this if you're worried with spoilers. Thanks, and I hope you enjoy reading (and reviewing) this as much as I enjoy writing it.

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**THE QUESTION MARK**

**- Departure -**

Snake lay against the dusty gravestone, the life's story of the corpse buried beneath him crumbling away on a slab of rock. This was his future. Eventually information fades, no matter how much you hold onto it. He held the gun in his greying hands. Just another death. No-one would understand, nor care.

Meryl. Where is she now? Not that she'd care for a man like David. Not now.

He brought the gun to his mouth and felt his jaw clamp down upon its cold metal. Eyes closed. He was ready. He knew what must be done. Knowing his next breath would be his last, David swallowed, tensed every muscle in his body, took a deep breath and pulled hard on the trigger.

...

He heard the gun's bang echo into the blackness. Nothing. Just nothing. His feeling faded, as did the sound around him. And then it happened.

Something glistened in front of him. It was so blurry that his quickly fading memory lost all hope of processing it. But it became more vivid. And he could see it. As it drew closer to him, he could make out blurred lettering. How was this possible? His hearing came back. A beep. An extremely loud beep. But it was drowned out by a different sound. The ringing of a telephone.

His vision came back to him. His sense of touch, smell and taste all returned. He could taste the blood in his mouth, the smell of chilled air. Was this death? He touched his ear, as a familiar voice recited familiar words. A new bodysuit? No, the colonel lied to him in his ear. Snake shouted back... until it struck him...

He was back on Shadow Moses Island.

"No..." Snake whispered down the codec.

But before he could think, an alarm sounded. Had he been spotted?

Snake threw himself to the ground. Looking up, an elevator ahead had swiftly reached ground floor. He soon crept past very suspcting guards, and hit the control pannel. The lift groaned into life once more and pushed him upwards into the chilling air.

Something was not right about this, and now David had time to realise. Removing his diving gear, flashes of what was, what is and what will be appeared infront of his eyes. The graveyard... Had he died? He had felt the bullet force its way through the back of the throat and out of the other side. He had fallen numb just as he slumped down, limp and lifeless on the slab. But now he was here. Back on Shadow Moses.

And those guards. That wasn't post 2010 gear... The genome soliders. Events can't repeat themselves can they?

Snake reached the top floor. A helicopter took off infront of him, leaving a snowy baron wasteland of a building's entrance. The codec rang. But Snake didn't pick it up.

He knew the way in.

After hearing a well known "Who's footprints are these?" Snake was soon back in the air ducts, along with the rats who showed him the way. It gave him a sense of comfort being in these dark tunnels. But they soon reminded him of resting in a coffin and he persued the rats without futher thought.

His ear rang. What a pain. He still had blood in his mouth, and his ear now felt as though it would implode. He opened the codec for a conversation. Master Miller. Snake soon felt at ease again as he fell into a running conversation with the man. But then he remembered. Sitting himself up inside the now claustrophobic tunnel, his hand started trembling. This wasn't Master. This was Liquid, one of David's clone brothers. What should he do? The man was telling serious lies in his ear, and Snake knew the real man would be found dead in a matter of hours. Snake made a quick decision.

"Liquid."

"I'm sorry?" Master sounded insulted after Snake had interupted him.

"I know who you are."

"What the hell is going on?" questioned Campell.

"Is Nastasha Romanenko there?" Snake asked.

"How did you know? That information was not released yet".

"Campell, may I speak with you on a private line?"

There was a short silence.

"I'm sure you can share it with all of us, Snake" Nastasha introduced herself.

"Can I ask someone to check Master Miller's house. Just to see if everything is okay?" Snake spoke, with slight panic in his voice.

"Snake, is everything okay?" asked Master Miller.

"No. No it's not." replied Snake.


	2. Objective One

**- Objective One -**

"Has something happened to my house?" Liquid faked Miller well. God only knows how long Master Miller was watched from a distance, so his personality could be copied. A true spy. Snake's brother was not a force to be reckoned with.

"Shut the hell up", mumbled Snake, regretting it as soon as it left his mouth.

But no one answered. The codec switched off. Silence.

Snake found himself entering a large hall, containing two tanks. Knowing full well that Vulcan Raven would take one of them later, he would have sabbotaged them both, but he had no real equipment to do so with. He hurried past another guard, and splipped into an elevator. Next stop, DARPA chief.

The DARPA chief. He would die in Snake's arms...

He crawled through more dirt-ridden ducts, passing Meryl. Meryl, she's alive! She was excerising, but it didn't stop Snake. He slammed his fists against the grating below him, and it gave way. Falling to the floor, the woman sat bolt upright in shock.

"Get us out of here." Snake demanded.

"Hey!" Meryl was confused

"You are thinking of doing it right now, get us out of this cell!"

Without any pause, Meryl got up, and slammed open the door. The guard responsible got a nasty beating. Meryl took his clothes. But Snake took the gun from the soldier before she could point it at him.

"Someone's in that other cell". She shouted, as an alarm screeched down the halls. Snake opened the door.

"Who are you?" The captured man questioned.

Snake replied with a bullet to the main's forehead. He collapsed. Dead.

Meryl screamed in horror. Snake's ear began to ring again.

"We have to get out of here." Snake stated, calmly.

"Who are you?" She shouted.

"Call me Snake."

She mumbled. "I'm M.."

"Meryl" Snake interrupted.

The door ahead of them slid open with a mechanical swish, and armed soldiers poured in. Meryl leveled her gun, while Snake grabbed a knife.

Pinning himself to the wall beside the door, Snake gutted two armed guards. They had followed orders, to their doom. The blade of the knife severed their throats, leaving their life to spill across the floor, causing one other guard to slip. Snake had also met a gruesome fate, one in which he felt there were no way out of. Why should these men die?

This was a quick-call decision. They would have to shoot him, and Meryl. Running, for them, was not an option.

Meryl shot three bullets across the hall, one hitting the arm of the fallen man, and the other two nestling into the metal walls. Snake had backed off.

"Aim it, you damn rookie!"

Sounding angry, she shot a bullet just above Snake's head, causing him to duck. Three more men burst in, and all received a bullet to the chest. All three fell to the ground. Another three filtered in as Meryl reloaded. Snake launched himself at their feet and they tripped onto the five other doomed soldiers below. Stealing a gun, Snake left a gun-wound in the back of their necks.

Something struggled under the pile. Eight men had died in the matter of sixty seconds. Meryl left the room, and swiftly turned right, towards the lift. Snake promptly followed her, until the doors closed shut. Someone appeared above him in his peripheral vision. A hallucination? Wasn't this whole thing a hallucination?

Phsyco Mantis. Snake wasn't ready to hear his disturbing breaths again, and shot the empty space Mantis left behind as he disappeared. Snake slammed his fist against lift controls once more. The alarm faded, making his ringing ear more noticeable. Who would be on the other end?

Snake knew there would be radio silence when trying to reach his next stop. He also knew Ocelot would be waiting to stop him from helping the ArmsTech President.

But Snake had already planned far ahead.


	3. The Fires of Shadow Moses

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Author Notes:** Hi guys. Thanks to all of you who've taken an interest in this story. It's great to see so many people reading. If you've just read a chapter, please drop a review, as it's great to get feeback. Many thanks. :)

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**- The Fires of Shadow Moses -**

Snake found the C4 and approached the first guard. This man's shoes where extremely loud against the concrete floor. In comparison to Snake, the man could have been a mile away and you'd still hear him. Snake tugged at his back, and grabbed his neck. The man struggled as he was pulled towards the hatch in the ground. Snake threw him in.

The codec rang in his ear still. Snake picked it up.

"Yes."

"Snake," a British accent called through the static.

"Liquid".

"I don't know what you mean, brother."

Colonel interrupted "Snake."

Liquid's line went dead.

"I sent a search team to Miller's home." There was a slight pause. "He's dead".

"Master Miller was just on the codec to me before you started speaking" Snake stated.

"That can't be possible", replied Colonel.

Snake went to speak "It's…" but was interrupted.

"Decoy Octopus. The Master we've been talking to must be Decoy Octopus".

"No… no it's"

"Don't underestimate him, Snake. He's the master of disguise".

"You've got it all wrong".

"Snake, your main priority is to get to ArmsTech President Kenneth Baker. Get there now before it's too late!"

Snake sighed, clicked off, and placed the C4 on the oddly-coloured wall. With a flick of the thumb, the wall blew open, revealing a hidden walkway to Baker.

Snake arrived soon enough to see Baker tied up, surrounded by trip wires.

But he was early.

The wires were still being fixed by Ocelot. He stood at the opposite end of the cubic room, reading some sort of map, while fixing the wires to nearby metallic pillars. Baker had already seen Snake, and stared expectingly at him, yet shook with fear.

Maybe Baker could be saved. The situation was different now.

"Ocelot!" shouted Snake, across the room.

A husky, deep, but wise voice began to chuckle. A wire fell to the ground, snapping back, barely missing Baker.

"The stage is set. Now watch closely", stated Ocelot, slowly and clearly.

"They call me Revolver Ocelot".

He began spinning his gun in an unearthly manner in his hand. If nanomachines weren't responsible for this, then this man had talent. Shame that this special revolving trick would be short-lived. Frank Jaeger was somewhere nearby. But would he get here late?

Snake only had his knife.

And he threw it straight at Ocelot.

The man took a small step to the right, dodging the oncoming tool, but was relieved of his weapon as the blade of the knife collided with its grip.

Ocelot reached out in an attempt to reclaim his revolver, but was met with the blade of a Cyborg Ninja. A bare arm fell to the cold, steel grated floor. This was too early.

Yet for Baker, it was too late. Frank walked up to a wire, stretching the length of the room, pondered over its meaning for a minute, and poked it with his rusting finger.

Snake took cover.

The flames surrounded Snake, wrapping him in a tight blanket of smoke and heat. Unbearable heat. He screamed out in pain amongst the cries of agony from Baker and Ocelot, fire entering his mouth. Frank's static laughter could be heard distorted in between the noise of scraping metal.

A contained explosion.

Four dead men.

Snake's vision blacked out.

The sound dissipated, but vague screaming was still apparent in the distance.

Scriptures. Information was flying at him. A dream before death? It was extremely faded and hard to make out, but his hearing was now returning to him. A consistent beep that howled into his eardrum. The pain. His sense of feeling was back.

He hit the metal-grated ground hard. The fire was still burning away at his new suit. Rolling about, the flames died away. Snake stood up, and Ocelot stood in-front of him, spinning his gun in his remaining hand. The wires surrounding Baker had been replaced, and Baker stood tied to the metallic strut once more, with burn-marks in his legs and suit. His face was scarred on one side, and he screamed in agony.

Snake had a gun. Where from? Had Jaeger given it to him?

Enough questions. Snake loaded the gun at lightning speed and aimed the gun barrel at Ocelot.

The man's cloak covered his face in response to the sudden gush of ventilating air from a nearby duct. The husky voice once again prevailed "We shall meet again, Solid Snake". His name was spat out in disgust, yet this man's apparent need to meet in another location had Snake guessing whether this disgust was all true.

Nevertheless, the man ran out of the hallway and took the lift, and Baker had untied himself and was already sliding himself under the wires.

"Stop!" yelled Snake. However, his voice was more of a mumble. Excruciating heat and pain engulfed his throat.

"Toss the card-key".

Baker fumbled about in his jacket pocket, and slid it out. Snake picked it up, as the man reached up for help, triggering the newly-placed wire.

Snake ran as the explosion chased him down the corridor.


	4. Meeting Master Miller

**- Meeting Master Miller -**

Snake landed in the grit of the previous storage room. Something nasty had begun growing around the corners of each room, and his burnt hand felt soothed as he pressed against this dirt to pull himself up. The pain in his back, legs and neck was unbearable. Stumbling past a trap door, he hid behind a pile of metallic crates, panting wildly.

Someone moved towards him.

And time slowed.

The eyes within the hooded mask blinked slowly as they stared at him. A radio device was slowly lifted from the man's belt, as he began running at Snake. He shouted into his device, slowly, giving Snake enough time to hobble around the other side of the crates. The lights went out, but soon flickered back with an eerie shade of red. In slow-motion, the soldier ran around the crate and Snake brought his aching fist to the man's neck. He stumbled back. Snake never saw him as he reached out from the trap-door; begging for help.

The elevator doors opened down the hall. The only way out.

Time came back on his side, and he began a small jog, but what felt like a marathon sprint, to the electronic doors. One soldier screamed from his right as he leveled a machine gun at Snake. Ducking, the few bullets meant for David flew over his bandana, and hit the soldier opposite. Those increasingly loud footsteps approached Snake from behind, and he stuck out a leg, and landed a knife in the chest of the fallen family man.

The elevator doors closed. Back to the tank hanger. The tanks wouldn't be there, he knew that. No. Exactly ten men stood facing the elevator doors within the hanger. Snake met them with both hands behind his head.

Four of the men moved round his back. One took his hands and handcuffed him. If this wasn't the single most painful experience in David's life, then it could only be the apocalypse waiting for him. Emotionally. This was the most insulting experience he had felt in a long time.

"How do you feel? Snake?" a voice echoed from the left of the empty, green, filth-ridden room. His neck clicked as he looked to meet Liquid's face.

"Brother, you're in a bit of a difficult situation. No?"

"I'll agree with you there", Snake agreed with his brother. The humiliation was neutralised by a deranged feeling of family bond. But it was soon broken.

What happened to time paradoxes? Snake thought.

But then he remembered the time he snapped the handcuffs free.

Liquid paced back and forth in front of Snake, lecturing him.

"You know, Snake. You should just give up now, and go back. I have my sources within your own network. My friends will take care of you if you fail to comply".

"Miller". Snake stated. "Master Miller".

And for another first, he smiled. David felt it approach him quickly, uncontrollably, but un-noticeably nevertheless. His brother noticed it however, not returning the gesture. He was speechless.

Come on. You can do it. Snake was tearing his wrists apart trying to repeat the trick with the handcuffs.

Liquid released a nervous laugh. Time for a new plan. Fast.

Solid's arms flung themselves in the air. Chunks of metal flew at the four guards standing behind him. His right arm disconnected his gun from his belt, and continued in its efforted swing towards Liquid's kneecap.

The shot wasn't silenced.

Liquid's literal scream of pain was still audible over the gunfire of the four guards in front of Snake. But Snake was already gone.


	5. Forward Thinking Before the Past

**- Forward Thinking Before the Past -**

Somewhere in this complex, Revolver Ocelot would be applying bandages furiously to this leaking elbow. His long, draping coat smeared the blood on the paved ground as he stumbled through dingy underground corridors, grunting with pain and disgust.

David hid in a nearby air duct, watching Liquid and his men squirm in reaction to the unexpected turn of events. As they filtered out, Meryl began murdering his ear. The volume of the beeping was excruciatingly loud. He let it ring until it stopped, and stumbled out into the open warehouse.

Walking through the infra-red corridor with ease, Solid was hit by instant windchill as the bulky metal door churned itself out of his way. Nevertheless, before Snake could be told of the mines surrounding him, or the tank waiting for him up ahead in the blizzard, he stood still in the doorway.

Cupping his hands firmly around the outside of his mouth he shouted at the top of his smokey voice. "Vulcan Raven!"

Nothing but the high pitched shrill of the wind against the concrete building returned his shout.

"Vulcan Raven! I need your help."

Raven replied.

Six shots rang out and the ground around Snake exploded.

Walls of snow, ice, dirt and shrapnel isolated him by the hanger entrance. Metal flew past his face at uncontrollable speeds. The surface beneath his feet melted to show crumbling rock, and he was forced back against the now jammed door, only to be deafened by the ringing of the Codec in his ear.

"Snake, there are claymore mines around there".

A figure emerged from the mist. Frost glistened on the man's shaven head, and every heavy breath contributed to the haze that settled between the two. The blizzard hit his bare skin unapologetically, but he showed no signs of weakness.

"The raven on my head... It thirsts for your blood".

There was a silent moment between the two as each expected the other to take the next action. A wolf could be heard howling past the rocky hills. It echoed into the miniature valley that mother nature, and mankind had created, bouncing off each wall and returning to the ear for another encore.

Vulcan Raven stepped forward.

Snake slipped his hand behind his back, and took his knife out of its case, into the cold, and as quickly as possible, back into the warmth.

Raven gripped hold of the handle as it sat nestled in his abdomen, and stumbled forwards.

There was no blood.

The frost closed Raven's wounds as he lay under the blizzard. White drops masked his identity to the world and the birds flying above. They scattered with fear and dissipated quickly from the storm-ridden sky.

The tank stood abandoned in the snow. It's cannon never fired, it's tracks never faulted.

The laser system did not respond as it smashed through the door, entering the hanger from whence it came. Snake cowered as rubble fell through the tank's entrance. No-one was present, and the ear-piercing screeches of metal against concrete filled the empty hall.

Snake waited.

Creaks and architectural moans crept through the walls around him. Still, he waited.

The whirring of a security camera could be heard echoing through the building, reporting the images back to an unknown source. Surely these events had been noticed? Nevertheless, he still waited.

Until it happened.

The metal struts holding up the floor sighed as they gave way. The tank fell down into the floor below, into the damp, dusty darkness. Almost knocking Snake unconscious, the impact on the floor below left a crater in the basement floor, leaving water to filter in through now exposed piping. The hallways around him had become one with the individual rooms that had once been locked, protected by trap doors.

Snake got out of the tank.

It could have been two floors that he had passed through, but it was impossible to tell now. All floors were now one, and the tank stood in a dense layer of fog. Snake plowed his way through the tank's entrance, moving rocks and debris. The cannon had become disconnected and lay to one side. It hid the collapsed ruins of Baker's chamber. His corpse now burnt to a cinder, and buried under trip-wires, bricks and distorted metallic pillars.

Snake slid backwards, falling over the various remains that had solidified themselves to the tank. Looking up, remnants of the corridor where he met Meryl, murdered Decoy Octopus, and confronted Phsyco Mantis were visible through the large gaping hole from the two floors from which he had fell. Dead bodies fell from the floor above and hit the hard metal of the tank, followed by the sound of backbones disjointing. Cracking. Natural light seemed to fade, as dust sprayed throughout the basement floor, and as David hit the ground, he was splashed with pipe water, and possibly raw sewage.

Wading through the basement, he leapt over a pile of rubble where a wall had once been. This is what he wanted, the PSG-1.

The lift still worked. He hammered the electronic pane with his fist, and fell backwards. His back hurt. He should be dead after that fall, but he was still alive, despite the drying blood in his nose making his breathing difficult, his entire body suffering from extreme burns, and of course his back - which felt as though it had broken in two places. Nevertheless, Snake pushed himself into the lift's floor, hearing his spine click three times.

He stood up, brushed himself down, hooked the PSG-1 around his neck, using his bandana as a makeshift strap, and walked calmly out of the lift, past the laser system, past Raven's corpse and into the nuclear storage facility.


	6. Out of Place

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Author Notes: **A massive thanks goes to Natasha Sunderland for writing the first review for my story. It's really appreciated, and it's awesome to read comments, so thanks for your review. It makes me all happy =) and it's nice to get your opinions.

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**- Out of Place -**

Was this a time paradox? Events had been changed, and no consequences seemed to be occurring. David's response was to continue.

But once back in another lift, he began thinking. What was his aim? his motivation? He had just placed a gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger. His whole body was screaming, and he just kept going. Was Liquid hoping to re-activate Metal Gear Rex? Surely they knew how to do that, they'd already done it. What about Ray? The events following Shadow Moses seemed strikingly clear in his head. The Big Shell. It had definitely happened.

There was a glass wall revealing the control panel that Snake needed to destroy in order to deactivate the electrified floor. After acquiring the Nikita launcher, this should be simple. Standing at the end of the gas-filled corridoor, Snake fired a rocket. It propelled itself down the hall, turning a sharp corner right - a perfect 90 degree turn. He felt proud with himself. That was before the boom sound from the impact between the rocket and a kitchen table found its way back to him. The glass door behind him slid open, and he fell through. It closed automatically, and he was blasted with mildly cool air. He coughed uncontrollably, vomiting violently, removing the poison from his lungs. Back in he went.

The second rocket flew a steady course to the control panel, and Snake stumbled through the empty corridor, into the next decontamination chamber. Gray Fox made himself heard through the screams of numerous soldiers in the adjacent hallway. Warm blood stained the door and had already began to crust at its hinge. The electronic opening malfunctioned under the strain, and Snake used his own fingers to scrape off the dried crimson. It stuck under his nails, while flakes sank through the dense air, settling on the hard metal floor. The frame loosened, and the door slid open.

There was definitely a feeling of life left in this room. While the smell suggested otherwise, Snake paid his respects to the dead and dying guards who were scattered about the hallway in a random fashion. But was this random? Snake remembered this scene, and all of these men had been in the same place last time. No... hang on... no this time they were in slightly different places. It was subtle, but the blood trails, the position of the arms... they were slightly out from the last time he had seen them in this very hall. Nevertheless, they were still very much gone. Their lives had ended with a madman's blade severing their internal organs.

And that man was quite literally, just around the corner.

Snake had left his weapons in the tank. His knife was now lost to the remains of the entrance hall. The PSG-1 was his only option. The bodies surrounding him disowned various types of machine gun, but there was no time to pick them up and become accustomed. Lowering his sniper rifle to the right side of his waist, his slowly checked that a bullet was already loaded. It was.

His left hand supported the weapon, his right hand's index finger stroking the trigger.

He strafed right at an incredible speed to see one guard hanging lifeless mid-air.

The PSG-1 released its potential energy on the bullet, forcing it at point blank range to exit the weapon, travel in the air for two feet, and pierce the armour of the invisible man.

Both men in front of David fell to the floor. The ninja-suited soldier dragged his body, using his hands, through the automatic door. It shut behind him, and David followed, walking at a slow pace.

Hal was cowering up against a glass pane as Frank dragged himself into the room. The cyborg ninja leaked blood and acid as he passed the quivering man. Otacon's bladder gave way, staining both his clothes and the carpet around him. Frank's sparks fizzled on the moist ground, and he hid himself behind a desk, panting in pain.

The door slid open and a dark suited man entered the office, gun held by his side, and his greasy hair hiding his eyes. Hiding his emotion. He inspected the room at a glance, and looked down. Urine and blood had combined to give him a clear path to his destination. Otacon winced, and the man approached him, aiming the sniper rifle straight ahead. He pressed himself hard against the glass as the unknown man cornered him. The carpet yellowed, and the man's footsteps squelched on the computer room floor.

"Hide".

Otacon took refuge in the same location as he had the first time Snake had met him. Wet sniffs interrupted the whirring of the bulky desktops that filled the room. Snake followed the dying man's blood. Japanese manga figures watched him from the posters that had been stuck on the walls to mask the dull, grey lining of the office. Snake reloaded the weapon.

A scream of fear filtered through the air. The robot was crying.

Should Frank die here? Why should Snake force the man's death upon him? The end of life had already met Snake once and it wasn't nice. Humans naturally flee from danger. It's brute human instinct to protect the body from damage, from death. Putting another bullet through Frank's exoskeleton would end his life. Forever. He would never experience anything. Ever again. That would be it. For an infinite amount of time... nothing.

But Frank had already died once.

Snake found him under a desk, sobbing with fear. His life trickled out from a small hole in his metal suit, and he tried to stop the inevitable with his metallic gloves, which fumbled over the bullet wound. Trembling.

Snake brought up the PSG-1.

Frank moved his robotic arm to his head and tapped a button. He vanished.

Snake pulled the trigger towards him.

The bullet embedded itself in the carpet under the desk. The fabric floor smouldered.


	7. A Robot's Teardrop

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Author Notes:** A massive thanks to AtheneMiranda for your review! I'm really grateful. In answer to your first part, I understand that Snake at first comes across as being very agressive. As you'll see as the story progresses, this is a reaction to his new/old environment, and... well you'll see. It's still definitely Snake. I take that on board though, and it's a good point. He does calm down a bit after this. Snake managed to get back to Shadow Moses, but his body is still in default as to how it was the first time he approached a situation. Hence the reason that he attacked Frank, but his mind is beginning to catch up with him. He's slowly coming to terms with his situation, but has been slightly hypnotic or clockwork at first. The reason for Fox to be scared will be elaborated later. Wow, I was totally off with Nastasha! Thanks for telling me. I've updated the previous chapters with her in. Hi also to Kael, who added the story to their story alert subscription. Ok, enough of me. Back to Snake and a confusingly scared Frank. :D

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**- A Robot's Teardrop -**

He stumbled against abandoned desk chairs, threw papers off tables, and leant on computer nodes to regain consciousness. Death was never-ending. He held the weapon and faced the artificially created soldier that approached him with the same sense of death in his hidden eyes. Snake.

A blade swiped across his body as Snake brought up the sniper gun and fired it at him, like a crossbow. The bullet dented the blade, but bounced off nevertheless, and broke the glass of a nearby monitor. Frank's stealth camouflage flickered back on, and Snake continued to follow the drops of blood that paced their way around the perimeter of the room.

Disconnecting a desktop computer, Snake threw it in the direction of the cyborg shadow. It smashed through the pane of glass Otacon had forced himself against, and bounced off the large severs that the glass had protected. The server leaned back in response, and then tilted forward, crashing down onto the wet carpet. Sparks flew across the floor, and the scientist screamed from his storage locker.

Frank's camouflage failed him. Looking across the hall, Snake could see the metallic figure stare right back at him. Frank covered his still-leaking wound. He bent over, and slammed his head multiple times on the ground. Water was creeping through the seams of his helmet. Tears.

Snake walked up to him, and kicked the chunk of metal in the head, letting it fall flat on its back. The large red light on its forehead cracked under impact, and the creature emitted various mechanical moans.

But this was Frank. Snake couldn't kill Frank. Not Frank...

Frank Jaeger had saved David from his own death during his fight with Rex. There was no threat here. Let him be, and move on.

Three words left the metallic exoskeleton, broken and distorted.

"Hurt... me... more... I never meant for any of this, Snake." The cyborg ninja spoke softly before experiencing muscle spasms across his limbs and neck especially. His head was thrown about as though on a spring in mid-air.

Snake was forced backwards. He felt his feet leave the ground as the carpet around sparked and turned to flames. Frank stood up and suffered a cataclysmic fit, which was brought on by a blinding bright light surrounding him. From this, electricity connected him to the surrounding room like a plasma ball. The fire caught onto an office chair, while the flames on the floor dimmed to nothing, leaving a burnt ring around Frank. He screamed in uncontrollable pain. Once the electricity had subsided, scratching robotic laughter filled his skull, and he walked slowly towards Snake, mimicking the stance Snake had held when he had followed Frank into the room.

"Hurt..."

Snake took a fire extinguisher off the wall and attempted to kill the combustion on the chair. Frank spasmed in the fog, forcing Snake backwards over two desks. Papers flooded all directions, some catching light from the flaming chair, which propelled itself in Snake's direction, throwing ash onto the wall behind him. A computer node exploded. Shards of monitor glass threw themselves at Frank, who showed no reaction. Flames poured out of the screen as he walked by, towards David.

"Hurt me, Snake."

Otacon burst out of the storage container, in a sprint for the exit. His breathing asthma-heavy, he ducked with his hands over his head as Frank turned and threw his weapon at the door, embedding the blade in the cold steel of the coded door lock. The scientist let out a small scream of fear.

"Throw a chaff grenade!" someone yelled in David's swollen ear.

Smoke had began gathering in the top third in the floor of the building, and suffocated the light, allowing only an eerie orange haze to light Snake's immediate surroundings. No sprinklers were fitted into the room, and Snake could hear Hal fumbling around with a fire extinguisher in some distant area of the office.

Frank's footsteps on the wet, burning carpet weren't audible over the crackling of flames, and bursting of computer monitors. A burst of electricity pulsed its way towards Snake, and the desk he was hiding behind was torn over his head. Frank was visible in the smoke before him, left hand over his right shoulder, head spinning uncontrollably and body dripping with blood. Both of his feet pointed inwards, creating a distorted posture. A mixture of pain and laughter haunted David's troubled mind.

"Hurt me, Snake! Hurt me! Please!"

"Snake, the ninja is losing his mind. Kill it now, before it's too late!"

"This is madness!"

"What?!"

"Argh, you monsters!"

"Naomi, what are you talking about?"

As Campbell and Naomi argued over Snake's codec, Frank stumbled towards him screaming with intense pain.

"Make it stop, Snake..."

Flames were reaching the walls, melting the japanese faces from their posters. A fire alarm sounded, but no-one came to the rescue. Snake threw himself at Frank. But Frank disappeared. David heard his spine click as the sharp force of Frank's metal fist hit him hard in the back. He fell to his knees, wanting to curse - but the need to realign his back had him breathing erratically.

Turning around, he went to pull the robot's legs towards him, but it vanished as he reached out. His back was kicked just under his neck, and Snake was forced forward, the carpet burn scratching into his face. He looked up to see Frank's neck twisting side to side, his head spinning wildly.

"Hurt me more!!!" The scream was louder than Snake's codec and the fire alarm combined. It deafened Snake, and it deafened Otacon, who yelled out in response. Another monitor exploded, and Frank's body once more surrounded itself with electricity bolts. He ran away from Snake, back into the black smoke. His shouting becoming more distant as a door was slammed open, unlatching itself from its electronic hinges. Frank Jaeger, Gray Fox, the cyborg ninja, had left the office.

Otacon appeared from the black clouds, fire extinguisher in hand, attempting to remove the flames in the soldier's vicinity.

"Step on my back, Otacon."

"W... what? How do know my nickname?"

"Just put all your weight on my back!"

Hal stepped onto the man's back without further questions. Chunks of bone clicked back into place, and he stood back up, grabbing Hal's forearm, and pulling him through the open door as flames filtered back out into the dead hall. They both sat in the bloody corridor, coughing up the poison from their lungs.

After they had recovered, the scientist shook Snake's hand.

"Hal Emmerich, Otacon" he introduced himself officially.

"Solid Snake".

"Here's my codec number."

Snake typed some digits into a concealed gadget on the side of his suit.

"I have optic camouflage. I can hide pretty well" Otacon explained to Snake after being demanded to escape. The scientist dissapeared into thin air.

Snake grabbed the invisible arm and Hal was once again visible.

"No. Follow me."


	8. The Screaming Choir

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Author Notes:** Big "hi" and "thank you" goes out to oshnapples who recently added the story to their favourites. Thanks!

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**- The Screaming Choir -**

Otacon was thrown into the lift. Snake slammed his fist against the aging controls and waited to reach the next floor. The doors slid open.

"You know where the women's toilets are?"

Otacon nodded with a raised eyebrow.

"Go there now."

The man ran out of the lift and turned a sharp left. Snake took a right, to find a urinating man in the gents. The genome soldier's neck was slit, and blood trickled down the yellow-stained urinal. He fell to the grimy floor, lifeless. Snake washed his hands.

A scream. Otacon and Meryl had just met.

Hal fumbled around, tripping over disused toilet paper, stuttering his explanations and readjusting his glasses. Snake burst in.

"Snake! I..."

"Don't worry, Otacon. Meryl, get changed."

She replied with a squeaky, croaky voice, but nevertheless returned to the end cubicle. Clothes were thrown out of the open cubicle door, and Otacon readjusted himself, standing to the side of David. Both men looked on in awe.

Johnny's trousers scratched the mirror, followed by the uniform jacket as Meryl's garments flew through the air, watched by both men, and impacted on the reflective glass, dropping into the respectably clean sink. She stepped out.

Campbell's daughter's hair flowed beautifully in all directions. It explored the space around it with elegance and splendor. Despite the large amount of products used to keep its shape, her red hair was a sight for the gentlemen's sore eyes. Meryl blushed from the on-look of the cavemen, her skin attempting to blend with her hair.

The woman took a pistol from her back pocket, and aimed it at Otacon. She spoke with authority.

"Are we done here?"

The dingy green lights flickered, and cut out. Otacon screamed in an unmanly fashion. The lights came back on, and the three looked suspiciously at each other. Meryl had lowered her weapon. The three then fell to the floor in reaction to the large mirrors shattering clean off the walls to their left. Fragments of glass spilled over the counter and sprayed across the dirty floor. Meryl ran back into her cubicle, but the door was lifted from its hinge, and thrown against the now-bare wall opposite. She stumbled out, quickly tugging on her own clothes.

"Otacon! Meryl! Get down now! Cover your ears!" Snake yelled at the top of his smokey voice as the sound of a disturbing choir filled the air around them.

The ground shook, tiles fell off walls, cubicles collapsed on themselves, and shards of glass danced across the floor. Snake struggled to keep stable, and the other two braced themselves against a corner wall, as Psycho Mantis smashed open the toilet entrance and flew directly at them.

Mantis rushed towards the two at incredible speed and vanished. A pulse was emmitted, vibrating the air around them, and Meryl was thrown half way into the air, and dropped. Her face slammed against the tiled floor, barely missing a shard of mirror glass. Her back straightened by itself, and she was forced upward, dribbling vomit from her mouth. Her hands locked vertically down, and she faced Otacon.

"Kiss me."

The room was still vibrating, and the choir becoming forcefully louder. Otacon winced in reply to Meryl's sudden urges.

"Otacon, get away from her!" Snake shouted, shaking on the rumbling floor. His muscles gave way, and he collapsed onto glass, piercing his suit at the knee.

Hal backed off, slipping in the watery sick on the tiled floor, but his body was lifted up, and thrown over the collapsed cubicles, landing in the second to furthest. He pulled himself up, but was forced down by the metal walls, which imploded inwards, sealing him in a coffin of steel.

Meryl turned to Snake.

"Snake. I want you."

Her gun was pointing at David, who squatted on the floor, bleeding at the knee.

He stood up.

Snake's fist slammed into Meryl's cheekbone. Her soft skin parted under his sneaking gloves, wounding her with a streak of crimson. Hal screamed for help from the confines of the cubicle, but was slid out from under the crumpled cubicle door using Mantis' willpower. Hal was levitated mid-air, and then once again thrown against the opposite-facing wall. He slowly collapsed.

"Meryl!" Snake shouted over the choir, even though she stood three feet away.

Her hand had forced the gun to her temple, and she trembled with fear.

"Help me" she uttered through her teeth. Her jaw was clamped shut.

She didn't blink. She stared David in the face. This was pure fear. Fear of losing control, losing life, the end of everything. _Not in a sick, dingy women's bathroom. Please, no._

Vomit continued to creep from her lips, and and her eyes welled with tears. Her nose ran without sniffing. Her whole face disposed its of liquids, and a heavy smell of sweat joined between the two to create a wake-up call for David.

He panicked, and looked around. _Anything_ to help him stop Mantis.

But it was too late. Meryl had already pulled the trigger.

The woman's face was splattered against the tiled wall beside her. Meryl was dead.

Her body gave way, and she collapsed under her own weight, slipping in her own vomit. The blood surrounding her merged with her hair colour, and fluid trickled out from what was left of her mouth.

David looked on in shock.

The ground still shook, the voices still sang. Otacon had looked up after the sound of the bullet leaving the clip had echoed around the toilet room. He too was speechless, as chunks of flesh ricochet off the stained walls, sliding across the damp floor, colliding with shards of mirrored glass. He swallowed a small amount of his own sick.

Snake continued to stare at the fallen woman, Cambpell's daughter, as he sat on his knees, one leaking blood. It didn't mean anything to him. The pain was intense. A tendon could have been severed, but this meant nothing to him. Meryl was dead. One eye remained, and looked ahead blankly.

David was dragged by an invisible force by his feet, away from the rookie and through the toilet entrance. He could see Otacon notice him, struggling to process the recent turn of events. Snake grabbed hold of the door frame, but Mantis tugged at his achilles heel, forcing more blood to bubble from his suit's cut. He was dragged through the hall, his cheek collecting the blood that his knee left behind and generating a disturbing squeaking sound of face against marble.

His head was lifted up, and he found himself standing in the empty hall. The elevator doors were still open. The Psycho pushed Snake's knees into the stone floor, for him to kneel, followed by his forehead, which slammed into the hard stone. Snake grunted with lessened consciousness. Mantis repeated the trick, and Snake blacked out.


	9. Waking Cruel Reality

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Author Notes:** A big "hi" to March10redfox who recently added the story to their story alert subscriptions and favourites list! Thanks to Natasha Sunderland for another quick review. :D It's all greatly appreciated. You may also be surprised Natasha with what's about to happen...

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**- Waking Cruel Reality -**

The lights flickered. Meryl screamed. She was alive.

The scream tugged at her scarred face. The right cheek was crumpled and distorted, as though it had been moulded unskillfully with clay. It glistened with moisture, swollen and red. Her jaw experienced cramp, and slammed upwards, grinding her teeth together. Her nose bled.

The gun dropped from her hand, and she fell backwards to the floor, wiping her nose with her bare arm while removing glass from her legs. The right side of her face continued to throb with pain as she regained consciousness.

Hal's glasses had fell from his face, joining the other shards of glass which ended their dance across the toilet room floor with the fade of the choir's disturbing song. The earthquake subsided, and he was abled to crouch, feeling amongst the mirror glass for the rounded lenses... and the metal frame...

"Gotcha".

A man entered the room. He wore dark clothing, his eyes concealed by dirty dark brown hair. He stood in the doorway with a large weapon at his side, and his breathing erratic.

"Otacon, are you ok? Meryl... oh my... Meryl..."

The man was Solid Snake. Hal's vision returned to him as he replaced his glasses. Snake ran over to Meryl, who threw yet more vomit at the already grimy floor. He put his hand on her back and whispered words in her ear. She looked up to face him, and he spoke a few more syllables. Hal couldn't read his lips, but there was trust in the gaze from the red-headed woman towards Snake. She stood up, arm over Snake's shoulder, and was hobbled out of the room. Her muscles were limp, and she began to move again once they left the room. Hal followed.

The woman leant against a wall, and leant over, placing her hands on her knees. Her body juddered, and she ran back into the bathroom. The two men stood outside as Meryl spewed what remained in her stomach into the nearest sink, clogging it up. She swilled water around in her mouth using the adjacent sink. Even the inside of her right cheek was burning, and the water did not help soothe it. She returned to the soldier and scientist, and allowed them to lead the way.

"That was Psycho Mantis" Snake stated.

The two remained silent, but the message they wished to convey was clear.

"The rules have changed."

...

"What the hell is this?"

Liquid nudged Raven's corpse with his foot.

"You. Get me Ocelot."

Liquid stood with a genome soldier shadowing the body of Vulcan. The man turned away and spoke into a radio, and passed it to Liquid. Ocelot's heavy breathing was audible, distorted and crackling through the speaker.

"That damned ninja took my arm." Ocelot spoke before he could receive Liquid's welcome.

Liquid looked up to the cloudy sky. The birds had began circling the area again.

"What do you want, Snake?" Ocelot questioned.

...

_Down the corridoor, through the library office, to the wolves, Meryl gets shot, get captured, escape..._

_Meryl gets shot..._

Snake was leading the pair of innocents to their death. Meryl had only just barely escaped with her life, and Otacon was weak around them.

_Metal Gear..._

_Is there no other path? Where's Ocelot?_

The events around him were corrupt. Everyone here was repeating the events from his past. How was Gray Fox even alive? Ocelot? Liquid? Raven? Mantis?

Sure, people have been brought back before, look at Frank. But... these people... flesh and blood...

Doors slid open. Snake had followed the same path as before without thought. He had been too busy arguing with the current situation in his head. Meryl and Otacon had followed him silently, Meryl to his left, Otacon to his right.

The office.

Books. Which was this? An office or a library? Probably an office.

Books that had once left their shelves and stormed in David's direction were once again placed neatly along the walls in alphabetical order. Glass models were lit beautifully on raised tables to his left and right, and in front of him, an abandoned desk - it's owner's portrait hanging against the solid oak above it.

Something gargled.

Meryl was held by her throat, and slammed against the wall to the right side of the office. Her hair blew in the opposite direction, as her body impacted against the uneven surface of a bookcase. Blood flew from her melted face as she hovered, screaming for her life, sliding up the wall towards the ceiling.

"Meryl!!!" David's voice broke under torment.

But someone grabbed his arm, stopping him from entering the room. Meryl.

"Don't fool for it, Snake." She said to him sincerely.

"I'm right here, you know I am."

"She's right, Snake." Otacon elaborated.

"Meryl's been standing next to me all this time."

Snake turned to look at the two standing behind him, looking him in the eye, not allowing Mantis's stage-play to disturb them. Otacon shook his worries off, but still showed his uneasiness through the uncontrollable twitching of his eyelid and the beads of sweat hiding behind his eyebrows.

Snake had had enough.

"Okay Mantis."

The image of a dying Meryl vanished from the ceiling, and a shadow crept across the back wall. There was an eerie silence which fell between the three in the doorway, and the room itself.

A flash.

Psycho Mantis shouted gibberish words behind his mask.

Snake's head made an electronic clicking sound. Then quiet.

Meryl and Otacon disappeared from behind him, and his vision went black.

Hideo 1.

Who. Who. Yes. 01010010 01100101 01101101 01101111 01110110 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01110010 00100000 01110011 01101111 01110101 01101100 00100000 01100110 01110010 01101111 01101101 00100000 01110010 01100101 01100001 01101100 01101001 01110100 01111001 00101110. Hideo 2.

"Snake".

David's mind was falling into a state of shock. He couldn't see. Yes... yes he could.

But he could see himself, as though he were standing in front of a mirror. He raised his arm. The man in-front of him raised his arm. He nodded. The man in-front nodded at the exact same time. He jumped on the spot.

The man jumped, but Snake's vision did not raise into the air with him.

"You see what I see, Snake. I can read you like an open book."

It was the same as before.

Before... the past seemed so distant.

"You have suffered much to reach here, yet you have a lingering sense of confidence against your enemies. You... you..."

Mantis fell from the air, twisting his ankle as it hit the floor. Snake's vision flickered between Mantis' and his own.

"Stop it. Stop it now!" Psycho Mantis squirmed on the floor, supposedly in pain.

"Stop! please!"

"You see what I see" Snake stated. His vision became his own.

Mantis sat against the desk gripping his masked face with his hands. He was visible. And so were Meryl and Otacon who ran up behind David.

"Is he dead? Did you kill him?" Meryl questioned eagerly.

Mantis muttered words of disgust. He was not as wounded as he seemed.

"So... it's true..." he began.

"What's true?"

"I thought it sadistic, sick-minded, but... it really did..."

"Tell me what you're talking about!" Snake shouted into the man's face.

Mantis looked over Snake's shoulder.

"He... he shouldn't be here."

Hal trembled with uneasiness.

"Can you read my mind?" asked Snake.

"Can you see my past?"

"What's going on?" demanded Meryl.

"I've seen the future Snake. I've seen your future. The woman... you have a large place in her heart..."

"Talk to me about my future".

"You are like me. You have seen it bright as day. There is no disputing it, yet there is always a lingering feeling that it can be changed..."

Mantis shuffled towards Snake to speak without being heard from the other two.

"Let me help you."

"What?"

"Let me help you. You want answers, and I have too seen your path."

Mantis spoke quietly.

"The following events will not play through as you expect them to. No matter what premonition you may be following, there are other elements at work here."

"What elements?"

"Take me with you."

"No."

"I've seen true evil... compared to you I'm like a saint."

Mantis' speech was not persuading Snake to allow him to follow them. Only moments ago, he had murdered Meryl in front of his eyes.

"No. I don't trust you. You murdered your father, and you only want revenge on the innocent."

"Very well. Then I must die".

Otacon stepped forward slightly. This madman's talk was disturbingly real.

"What?" Snake had seen the future, but he understood the situation now less than ever.

"You know the last time you met me that I died here. This is where I am supposed to die."

"This is insane."

"And yet what do I live for? Snake, you know as well as I that these events are intertwined with more than simply fate. I shall move the book cupboard for you, but I will not allow events to fall out of place. Snake. It is of the greatest importance that you do not change the past. I did not ask for this power..."

The hidden door was revealed.

"... Just go..."

David, Meryl and Hal left the room, leaving the un-named man to himself.


	10. The Laser in the Fog

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**Author's Note:** Even more followers? I'm really grateful for everyone's support. A big wave to GrimReaper1, who added the story to their story alert subscription and favourite stories list. A big hi to everyone who is reading. I can't explain how grateful I am each time I receive something like that, and especially reviews. It's great to see that so many people are reading, and it makes it all worthwhile when I hear back from you. :D

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**- The Laser in the Fog -**

Meryl played with the huskies.

The cold air began to soothe her face, and the soft fur from the dogs comforted her.

_Meryl gets shot. Meryl gets shot. Meryl gets shot..._

The two innocents standing around Snake were... innocent. He knew what lay ahead, and feared for their safety. Then again, if he had shot himself in the face, and Meryl... what would stop them?

_I have to save them both._

_Not just one. No. They both must live._

Maybe this was why he was here. Maybe that was what Mantis meant.

Of course, this was insane. Snake could remember meeting up with Rat Patrol Team 01 for the first time, instructed by Otacon over Codec...

It sent a chill down David's spine, events seemed to fall into place. But it didn't explain why he was _here_. Events weren't particularly repeating. Surely if this was the true past, he wouldn't remember the past... his future?

He smacked his forehead and stared with wide eyes at the snow on the ground.

_Focus._

Otacon shivered in the frost and wrapped his bulky lab coat around him tighter. Meryl laughed in the distance as a hound licked her face, the echo bounced off the surrounding walls and finding David. Snake paced quickly through the snow, ignoring the wolf dogs who growled and positioned themselves to pounce behind him.

The laughing stopped.

Snake grabbed Hal by the upper arm, walking him quickly through the cavern. Meryl was some distance away.

She stood at the large metal doors leading to the communications towers. Her eyes slowly panned up the gap, where the doors opened, in a trace-like fixation. A silent whisper filled her heart with worry, which she quickly concealed when the two men burst through a hole in the wall.

"You ok?" Snake asked Meryl.

"Yeah, yeah... I'm fine." Otacon said.

"You know what's through there?" Snake aimed his question facing Meryl, to avoid any confusion.

"Um..."

"Meryl, I need you to go in first. I just... have a feeling... that you'll be able to judge the situation better than I will".

The woman raised an eyebrow.

Snake knew she'd be able to sense the location of the claymore mines. Pshyco Mantis' infiltration into her mind would leave temporary scars.

The woman's black vest was stained orange with vomit, her face mangled and her red hair losing its shape, a few strands falling in front of her eye. Snake untied the bandana from his PSG-1 and helped wipe some of the marks from Meryl's clothes. He rubbed the bandana on the snow, removing any remnants, and offered to lend it to Meryl for her hair. Her eyebrow raised slightly higher, and he replaced it around his own head.

"Where are we going exactly?" Otacon questioned.

"To the exit."

"Is there no fire escape? Any quicker means of leaving?"

"Look around you."

Otacon went quiet.

"You go first." Meryl suggested.

"Go in, and move as fast as you can to the right. Pin yourself up against the wall facing away from the long hall. Facing this door. Otacon..."

There was a general shuffling between the three, getting everyone in order. Meryl tried to butt in throughout Snake's orders, not succeeding. Otacon was pulled towards Meryl. He made a small wince.

"... you go in right after Meryl. Stay behind her at all times, no matter what happens, you stay behind her."

"W...what's going to happen?" he stuttered.

"Go."

The metal doors slid open slowly and Meryl ran into the new room, pistol raised. Otacon tucked himself behind her, in a crouched run, covering his head with his arms.

Meryl grabbed her head in pain and tripped over her own foot.

"Hurry it up, Meryl!" Snake shouted from the cover from the opposite side of the door.

"Go around the mines!"

No more was need said. Meryl stood up straight, gun scanning the surrounding hall, and she ran in a maze-like formation around the empty area. Otacon couldn't keep up, and ran towards her, not following her path.

"Otacon!" Snake shouted hard.

The ground raised, lumps of concrete shifting through the air and slamming against the side walls, spraying rubble and debris around the immediate area. Meryl covered where Snake had once stood. Otacon stumbled and fell against the opposite wall, still hidden from Sniper Wolf's vantage point.

The area filled with dust and turned to a dirty fog. Meryl could be heard coughing violently. The space in front of the door revealed leaking piping, spilling melted snow into the newly created crater.

Snake swore loudly.

"Otacon, Meryl?!"

Both replied with a shout of relief.

"Don't move!" he commanded.

The end of the hall wasn't visible through the cloud of concrete mist, and neither were Meryl or Otacon. David jumped down into the pool of water, and waded to his right, hoping to reach Meryl's wall.

A red laser pierced the fog.

Snake felt a sinking mine stroke his leg beneath the water.

The line of red scanned the interior of the cloud surrounding the three.

"Snake! where are you? are you ok?!" Otacon screamed. Grit was covering his face, and his scream spat more dust into the air. His glasses remained on his face, but didn't aid his vision.

"Otacon! Shut up and pin your back against the wall! Meryl! Stay where you are!"

The shout came from the mist. Hal watched a red blur refract from the edge of the cloud and brushed the dirt off his face in hope of awakening from the nightmare.

A shot.

The bullet travelled through the air in a straight line and crumpled into itself as it embedded into nearby concrete.

Sniper Wolf pressed her face into the grated metal floor, allowing the bullet to pass over her head with incredible speed.

Snake reloaded the weapon, lying in a large pool of water. The laser from Wolf's gun danced around the smoke as she repositioned herself. She had a target.

Snake's ear began to ring. The codec wasn't much help at this moment in time.

His gun jammed.

Wolf's first shot splashed the water into his face, barely missing a mine, which rested on his foot. One nudged his side.

"Snake! I can get a shot!" Meryl called into the mist.

The PSG-1 clicked, and the weapon was once again ready to fire.

"Noo!" he screamed into the cloud. "On my mark, you will both run as fast as you can down the hall, and cover in the next wall indent."

Wolf reloaded incredibly fast. Her hand slid back down the gun and flicked a new bullet into the chamber. An art.

Snake knew that any shot could hit a mine. It was a risk to force the two into plain sights, but they were sitting ducks in a cloud of dust. He aimed the PSG-1 into the floating grains of rubble and fired. The laser above him danced again.

"Now!". It was a long and efforted scream, which reminded Snake of the burning sensation in his throat from his run-in with Ocelot. He didn't see the two move from their places, but the running steps echoing back to him told him they were following his orders.

He slipped himself cautiously out of the water.

The eerie red haze around the cloud disappeared as Wolf redirected her aim. There was a sense of darkness and lifelessness to his grim surroundings.

Another shot sounded from the distance.


	11. The Empty Hallway

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Author's Note:** Hi again. I thought I should let you guys know that I'm a film student, so I make short films in between writing chapters. If you're interested in seeing some of my stuff, check out the link to my website in my profile. Thanks. :) I just updated the site with an all-new look last Friday, so it's kind of the reason why there was a delay in this chapter. This chapter's quite long, so enjoy!

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**- The Empty Hallway -**

Meryl shot her pistol towards the sniper's vantage point and threw her back against the indent in the wall, covering from Wolf's line of sight. Looking to her right, she saw a scared scientist pin himself against the wall, shifting his body weight about from foot to foot, hoping to see Snake from where they had come from. He fiddled about with a concealed device in his coat, the codec, trying to contact the man in the bandana.

Looking in front of her, the wall featured a small red dot, not moving, not even trembling. If she wasn't aware of the presence of a hidden sniper, she would have thought it just red paint, or blood.

She stared at the dot temporarily, stunned by the precision of the gunner.

_How does he do it? Drugs? Must be._

Wolf's long golden hair draped over the eyesight, providing shade between her eye and the ominous green glow from the surrounding lights. Her vision was through a circle, obscured by four lines to help align her shots. This was the fourth hour into her wait for her prey, earlier than she had expected.

The red-headed woman was naive, innocent most likely, but still a threat. The plan was to shoot her, but not kill her. Snake would have to come out somehow. But with the advance of the woman and her friend, Wolf had to assure the next bullet landed in the woman's right-hand shoulder. This was the most tactful. She would be less accurate when firing her pistol. Hitting her kneecap would be an additional bonus. Immobility would be a brilliant incentive for Snake to make a move. It's the same technique as always. And it always worked.

Something bit hard at her left ear. A searing pain found its way from the side of her head to rumble her ear drum. Violent throbbing at the back of her neck caused her head to tilt to one side, shaking. She let go of the weapon, which fell on the grating, and grabbed her bleeding ear, half of which was missing. A second impact mark behind her. She grabbed the gun with her right hand and dragged herself behind a metal strut.

Snake appeared from the dissipating dust cloud at the far end of the hall, running towards Wolf.

She leant round to shoot without aiming, and Snake greeted her with another bullet, which imprinted itself into the metal column which she hid behind. She returned to cover, gripping her ear and grunting in pain, mopping up the blood with a handkerchief.

Snake continued to run. Wolf tucked her gun round the side of the pillar, firing once. The bullet passed Snake by a few foot, losing itself in the fog behind him.

The dust was replaced by an explosion. One mine took two others with it, throwing gushes of flame and water towards David. The fire was extinguished by the overpowering water, which now splashed and covered the majority of the ground floor. The entrance doors blew off their hinges and fell towards the crater in the ground, concealing the gaping hole, trapping any more water, but allowing a gust of cold air to blast down the wide hall.

Meryl and Otacon grimaced in reaction to the mix of fire, water and wind.

Wolf spoke coded words into a radio.

She rolled out from cover. Her hair flew wildly into the air, and her eye was immediately connected to the sight. Align... target... She fired.

Snake stumbled. His face changed from a determined anger to a confused distress. He didn't make a sound, but tripped over himself, sliding a small distance on the concrete and grit beneath him. His elbow leaked blood, staining the confidence of Meryl, who stood looking on at the fallen hero.

He didn't get up.

Otacon and Meryl looked at each other.

Snake wasn't moving.

Wolf took a test shot at Snake's left hand to see if he reacted.

His hand mangled under the force of the bullet, which pierced the skin and left a part of it sticking out from his glove. The large bullet encouraged crimson life to seep from the hand. The fingers took the weight, and fell flat.

Snake didn't move.

Silence.

The wind howled down the large hall quietly. Everything stood still.

A small scream could be heard coming from Snake. His ear was talking to him.

Otacon signaled to Meryl. Sniper Wolf was still waiting at one end of the hall. She had the advantage.

He held up his index finger. Then four fingers. Then two. Meryl caught onto what he was doing, and typed the numbers into a concealed device clipped to her inside jacket. They whispered over codec, exchanging thoughts, worries, emotional responses and plans.

Otacon nodded to Meryl.

He felt around in his trouser pockets. _Found you._

He threw the stealth camouflage pack in the air towards Meryl. It travelled in slow-motion towards her, spinning slightly over Snake's body.

Wolf had it in her sights. Whatever it was, it wasn't going to belong to the red-headed woman. A red dot appeared on the side of the device. Meryl leant round the corner and shot her pistol three times towards the sniper, gritting her teeth with pure desperation.

The sniper ducked once again in fear of losing another ear. Meryl didn't see her hair spray into the air as she rolled off to one side.

The wind carried the stealth camo up the hall a little, hitting the wall Meryl was hiding behind and scratching along the ground a meter away. In plain sight of Wolf.

Otacon looked on in a mild panic. He blamed himself and feared for their only chance of survival. He also knew what Meryl would want to do, and as she turned her head to look at him once more, his fears were turned to reality.

Meryl's hair still lay in a mess in front of her sweating face and she blew the strands blocking her vision away. She threw her gun at the ground and its holster, in a way that suggested she had given up with any sense of safety. She pinned herself against the wall, nodded her head in a short countdown and ran out into the line of fire.

Wolf aimed the gun. Meryl leaped through the air, throwing herself at the ground.

The hard impact of her body against concrete winded her and grit blew into the air, carried downwind towards Sniper Wolf.

The red laser blinded Meryl as it shone on her head.

Wolf pulled the trigger.

Meryl stretched out with both arms to grab the stealth camouflage pack. Otacon looked on in semi-consciousness.

The bullet rang as the wind passed by it, singing a peaceful one-note melody. It followed the laser-sight with precision, traveling down the hall towards the floored woman. Its graciousness was only appreciated by Wolf, who kept her eye through the weapon's sights. She had won. Her prey was caught.

Meryl's fingers frantically pushed every extruding button on the device, breathing uncontrollably, choking on the dust she was blowing into her own face. She vanished. The sniper's bullet bounced off the ground and rolled back down the hall towards Snake's body.

A shot of fear forced its way down Wolf's spine. This woman had simply disappeared from her sights. She heard a quiet grunting as the invisible woman pulled herself to her feet and hobbled towards her. Wolf shot at the empty space. A swear echoed back to her.

The sound of pacing steps quickened, and Sniper Wolf's adrenaline rushed through her body. _The thrill of the hunt._

Quiet screams continued to echo around the hall from Snake's ear. Wolf was listening carefully to tell the footsteps and the screaming apart. She aimed and shot. The woman's invisibility failed her temporarily, flickering off and back on as the bullet nicked at her clothing. Wolf reloaded in an instant and fired at the same spot. There was no impact.

The footsteps grew louder, echoing less as they came closer. Wolf hid herself behind a strut. She knew the woman would seek revenge.

The grated floor beneath her shook slightly as the sound of boots against thin metal led their way to Wolf's remaining ear. She held her position, squatting behind the pillar, balancing the rifle on her knee, pointing upwards. She wasn't trained on close combat, she didn't know how to punch someone effectively.

_The next floor._

There was another metal-grated floor above her. It may be her only chance at re-grouping her thoughts. She stood up and ran to her left. The rifle was heavy, and strained on her shoulder with the speed that she moved. Her foot hit the step, and she counted each one as she made her way to the top, helping her to concentrate on her immediate situation.

Someone pulled at her hair from behind. The red-headed woman was once again visible, and Sniper Wolf fell backwards, Her head hit against the sharp metal of the stairs, her feet stumbling over her face, jabbing the rifle into her gut. Her head was pulled further down by her own body-weight and slammed against the grating of the previous floor. She looked up to see a distorted image of an angry woman. The weapon fell off the side of the level, firing a bullet at a nearby wall.

Wolf was thrown against the railings, her head facing the empty hall. Wolf's hair lost its beauty, just as Meryl's had. Otacon walked out into the empty space further down the hall, looking on with every expression he could think of.

"You're a woman?!" Meryl exclaimed as Wolf's body collapsed over the railing. The sniper didn't reply, but moaned in pain.

Something tweaked in Meryl's mind, just as it had as she stared at the entrance to the hall. She stood motionless on the platform, staring at the woman, defenseless. Evil.

She grabbed her back and threw her over the railings. Wolf fell down through the air. Otacon watched in the distance in disbelief. Wolf hit the ground with a hard crunch as her back broke. The sound echoed its way back to Otacon, who turned away.

Meryl walked down the steps to the ground floor. Sniper Wolf moved slightly with her last moment of energy. She picked up Wolf's rifle, rummaged around the fallen woman's pockets for more bullets and reloaded the weapon slowly.

The finely crafted shard of metal dug a neat hole into the back of the sniper's neck. Her body shook and spasmed before lying limp and lifeless on the cold, hard concrete.


	12. The Clean Torture Chamber

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Author's Note:** A BIG thanks to everyone who checked out my website after I mentioned it on the last chapter. The visit count bumped up a little over the course of a few days. Thanks again, I really appreciate the support. :)

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**- The Clean Torture Chamber -**

The door to her left slid open, and a large group of masked men filtered in aiming their guns at Meryl. Some eyes' widened on noticing Sniper Wolf's corpse. Two ran across the width of the hall, scanning the area with their weapons raised. Otacon hid in the gap in the wall again, but was soon to be found. Another two dragged Snake's body through the door from whence they came. Meryl made no struggle. No sound.

She slid the rifle towards them. There were no bullets left. Besides, it would need reloading again. She slowly turned around to face the guards and flicked her head backwards to move her wet hair. Sweat dripped down her neck, her eyelid trembled, and her knee shook nervously out of sight from the guards.

One approached her. His black boots rippling the blood that explored the space around Wolf. He raised his machine gun to head level, turned to the firing end faced behind him, and slammed the end into Meryl's forehead. She fell backwards, unconscious on the floor.

...

The light came to him. Bright white light. Peace.

Snake opened his heavy eyes.

The light was a stained green and yellow, intrusively forcing him to wake. It burnt at his sore face, blinding him, making him all too visible to those who stood before him.

Ocelot shook his left hand. Snake woke up.

The pain was excruciating. His crumpled fingers clicked and fell limp under Ocelot's grip. A tight grip. The moustached man smiled from the corner of his mouth.

"Looks like you need an amputation... like me, Snake".

Liquid was also in the room. But not Wolf, unlike before. Snake's brother stood with a splint supporting his knee and a walking stick.

"Snake" Liquid sang intimidatingly.

"Are you awake? Ocelot, can he hear us?"

"Yes, Boss."

"Good."

Liquid's cruel British accent creeped Snake out. Seeing Liquid standing next to Ocelot temporarily confused him. He was so used to them being one person that seeing them as two separate bodies was overwhelming. Would Ocelot really really replace his patched arm with Liquid's?

"The guards found you unconscious in the middle of Wolf's playground, Snake. I'm surprised she didn't kill you."

"Meryl, where is she?"

Ocelot turned to face away from Snake.

"Is that all they care about?"

"What happened to the others?" Liquid asked Ocelot.

"I killed them." Snake spat.

Liquid walked up to Snake quickly, fuming that he had butted in on their conversation.

"Do you know?!"

"Boss..." Ocelot tried to calm David's brother down.

"Ocelot, there's no time for your tricks. This has all happened sooner than I expected. Put him in the cell. We'll just deal with the girl ourselves."

Shalashaska grunted in childish disappointment. He was eager to hurt Snake. _Make him hurt. Make him hurt to an inch of his life._

"Don't talk in front of him. We don't want him to know too much." Ocelot said slowly.

"Good thinking, friend."

Snake was unclipped from the metal torture table and dragged on the ground, through the metal door by his broken hand. He screamed in agony, his voice breaking every few seconds. Ocelot and Liquid looked on at him with grimaces on their faces as Snake was locked into the jail cell.

Liquid and Ocelot left to leave one patrolling guard to keep Snake within his cell.

Snake's codec didn't ring. He tapped his ear, and for the first time in hours wished for there to be someone speaking to him through it,

Something was missing.

There was no rotting smell.

In fact, the room smelt nice.

There was no rotting corpse of the DARPA chief in the corner of the room.

...

"Get up."

Eyes opened. A figure towered above, blurred.

"I won't say it again."

Meryl coughed across the floor. Her stomach hurt, and she wrapped her arms around herself as she continued to splutter.

She was lifted up by two hands and slammed against a metal wall. Her lungs collapsed, blowing her air across the room. She breathed in heavily and loudly as her lungs attempted to reclaim as much oxygen as possible.

"How much do you know?"

"I know that you currently hold Metal Gear REX underground, that your name is Liquid Snake and that you are a clone, brother to Solid Snake."

"I don't mean that."

"Go to hell."

"You first."

Meryl kicked Liquid's broken knee, hearing it crack under impact. He screamed in pain and fell to the ground. Meryl ran off towards the door in the dimly lit room. Locked. She took two steps back and ran at it, her upper arm banging hard against the metal.

Her arm bruised.

Her clothes had been taken from her. She wore a white vest and knickers.

_These men are sick._

Snake's brother was fully clothed, but had no walking stick with him. There was nothing on him that Meryl could use as a weapon. He was unarmed.

The doors would only slide open, but Meryl had no card key. She looked around. This was the only entrance and exit. The room was small, half the size of the women's bathroom. Liquid squirmed on the floor, slamming his fist into his knee, clicking it back into place. He fell back onto the floor, expressing his pain through this mouth.

She rummaged around his pockets for a key. Nothing. They were locked in together from the outside.

_The ventilation shafts._

There was a grated panel screwed into the ceiling. _Too high._

It was the only way out.

She stood on Liquid Snake, feeling his lungs deflate beneath her bare feet. She pushed off his chest to jump up to the panel. Her fingers caught the blades that made up the grating. Her body hung in the air, feet dancing in the space around her. The blades dug into her fingers, creating paper-thin cuts at the joints. She held on with one arm and tried to unscrew one side of the grating with her other hand. The first screw fell out. The second wasn't so easy. Her sweating hand slipped about on its surface.

Liquid stood up, putting his whole body-weight on one leg, grabbed Meryl's shin and tore her from the ceiling. She fell downwards and hit the metal floor hard.

"That vent will get you nowhere" he walked around her in disgust. She gripped her bleeding hands, and stood up to face him.

"What do you want." she spoke slowly through gritted teeth.

"Me? or we?" Liquid smirked pedantically.

Meryl didn't answer, but breathed hard through her nose.

"Ok then Meryl, yes I know your name, I think it's time you were totally open with me. If you tell me all you know, then I'm sure we can come to some agreement."

"What kind of agreement?"

"A nice one."

Meryl said nothing.

Liquid handed her a pot of hair wax. Meryl didn't find the gesture amusing, unlike Liquid, who continued a disturbing smirk as he walked towards the door, banging it twice. It slid open.

"I'll give you seven and a half minutes to think about it."

He left the room and the door slid shut, locking behind him.


	13. Prisoners of Fate

**- Prisoners of Fate -**

Hard footsteps ran across the dusty concrete, echoing across the large hall. Otacon ran for his life.

...

Johnny used the toilet. His most recent meal filtered into the bowl, churned away by the flush of water. Snake crawled under the bed in his cell. A cheap trick. It would work again. The guard sounded relieved. Two doors slid open and he was once again patrolling Snake's cell. Then he stopped.

Snake looked out from under the rusty bed frame. The guard stood at the window, staring directly at him. There was no comment. The guard simply watched on in disturbing curiosity.

There were no air ducts leading to the cell, and it soon became stuffy around Snake. He coughed under his smokey breath. He needed another cigarette. David crawled out from the bed, the cold eyes of the guard following his movements. David walked slowly to the meshed glass and stared directly into Johnny's eyes.

A scream filtered through the guard's radio. He detached it from his belt and brought it to his mouth and spoke words muffled behind the thick glass. The two continued their emotionless stare at each other.

Johnny walked to the electric door to the torture room. He typed four numbers into a nearby keypad, hidden behind a metallic panel and hinge. The door clicked red. He walked slowly back to Snake, and leant against the wall opposite the cell, reattaching his fixation on the captive's eyes.

Snake stepped back and pointed to the clean corner where the corpse of the DARPA chief should be lying, rotting. The guard didn't react. Snake juddered his arm to emphasise his message. Johnny shrugged insultingly.

Snake turned and briskly lifted the stained mattress from the creaking bed frame. He carried it to the window, thinking of using it to cover the menacing stare of the rookie guard. It wouldn't cover the whole glass, the window wrapped round two walls. Johnny could simply walk round to view Snake. He stood on the spot, thinking.

He moved the mattress to the door. If no-one could breach the now locked door from the torture room, Snake had to come up with an alternative escape plan. The mattress was placed vertically against the door, forcing pressure on its hinges in the wrong direction. The door could still be opened from the outside, but it would at least jam temporarily.

Snake turned away and tapped his ear. Radio silence.

The bed frame was tore from the ground. Johnny looked on in mild confusion and fear as Snake brought the frame towards the window at a speed, causing the glass to crack under impact from one of the bed's steel legs.

The guard jumped. He raised his machine gun at the glass, his shouting muffled to Snake's ears. He continued to ram the bed leg into the glass. The guard shouted demands into the distorted fragments of glass. The safety mesh held the shape of the window, but the section became white with small chunks of glass breaking off.

...

Otacon reached the door to the patrol area to the cell. A loud banging could be heard from the other the room ahead. Looking through the nearby window, a nervous guard brought a radio to his mouth, about to report Snake's actions to a higher authority.

Hal could crack the lock. He just needed time.

Time he did not have. Snake tore down the glass, and the guard tactfully threw a gun clip at his left hand, causing him to grip the broken hand and stumble backwards, screaming in agony.

Someone answered the radio.

...

A pot of empty hair wax sat next to the closed door.

Meryl sat curled up in the corner of the room. Her time was up.

Liquid approached the door from the opposite side. She knew it. Mantis has left a temporary imprint in her mind. He'd walk in, kick the pot to the side... and rape her.

There was nothing she could do. She folded her legs together and huddled into the corner of the empty metallic room. The two oval bunker lights that lit up the space in a dirty shade of green made her cold. The sweat had left her forehead.

The door opened, and Liquid Snake stepped in. Fully clothed, he looked down at the empty pot of wax and laughed to himself, looking up to see the shaking woman staring back at him with a fearful gaze. He kicked the empty pot away from him.

"Are you going to tell me?" He spoke calmly into the shadow.

"No".

Tears dripped down her innocent face.

"Are you going to tell me?" he repeated.

"No!" she cried back across the room. Her head fell into her hands.

"Very well".

The door closed behind him. They were in the room together, alone.

"Meryl, I want you to..."

Meryl stood up and threw herself at the man, slamming her fist into his face, and kicking his wounded knee with her bare foot. Liquid screamed in a high pitch. She brought her knee up, delving it deep into his crotch. He leant forward, face red. She raised her knee again to greet his nose, which clicked on contact with her kneecap.

Liquid stumbled backwards, his hands flailing on the metal walls of the room. A panel fell off its hinges, and his hand brushed over buttons. He fell to the floor, which began to rumble. Meryl leant on the far wall to stable herself.

Movement. The room was moving.

Meryl ran to Liquid, who once again lay moaning on the ground. She knelt next to him and forced her clenched fist into his groin. His reaction was lost to the sudden downwards motion of the room around them. They were in an elevator.

Meryl was thrown into the air. The sudden downward force suggested the brakes were broken. Whatever the cause, Meryl found herself hitting the roof of the metal coffin and landing back on the floor.

_One more shot at the ceiling panel. _

She stood on Liquid and jumped. He reached out and grabbed her ankle, bringing her face smacking down onto the hard metal below her. The wound in her face slid along the vibrating floor as he pulled her towards him. She kicked with both legs, one toe landing in his eye, he let go and rolled over, gripping his throbbing skull.

Meryl jumped once again where she was, her back slamming into the roof. Hanging from the grated panel, adrenaline helped her to pull the last two screws out from their sockets without twisting. The panel turned and flew upwards, spinning into the darkness above. She climbed through the small gap, leaving a wounded Snake to pull himself up.

The brakes to the lift were screaming, but had no effect on its speed. Liquid stood up, watching Meryl jump and grab a nearby cable. He pushed all the buttons on the control panel to his side. The lift stopped quickly. He was lifted off his feet and thrown to the ground.

A defenseless woman was hanging on a cable in the shadows above. Liquid had time. He didn't rush. He stood up, brushed himself down and called for assistance.

Meryl swung on a thick cable mid-air. A pinpoint light below her mapped the distance of the elevator to her. Her surroundings were pitch black, there was nothing to see. She was clinging on for life in total black. Cold air made the fine hairs on her arms to stand upright as it whistled from above her. There was nothing above. Only darkness. There was nothing next to her, just darkness. Below, just the white dot.

Which increased in size.

Nothing she could do. The lift would surely get there before her. She ignored her fears and pulled herself up further up the wire. Her muscles took the strain and her bare feet slid up the cable, wrapping around it to lock her body in place. Her hands slid up the wire again, and she repeated the process as fast as she could, her naked thighs burning against the coiled metal.

The light screamed towards her. Her hands filled with sweat.

She slipped.

The woman fell silently through the darkness towards the light.

...

"I want those figures."

"Sorry?"

"Get me the damned figures".

"Yes Sir."

"Now.... thank you. Hmmm. What. Why are these not on zero? Are they accurate? To hell with those... ah forget it for now. That's not important. Do you know where you're supposed to be next?"

"Yes Sir. Although I need to leave right now if I'm going to get there in time."

"Good. Then get a move on."


	14. A Raven's Fury

**- A Raven's Fury -**

Hal typed digits furiously into the wall panel. Sweat sealed the bridge of his glasses to the top of his nose. Digital bleeps denied him access to the next room, while his only hope fell screaming on the floor, out of reach.

He was lifted from the controls, away from the door. Someone was behind him. They grabbed his back, his lab coat, his skin, and thrusted him towards the window the the left head-first. Hal shouted in pain, and flailed his arms about his head in an impossible attempt to avoid any more injury. Again. The glass cracked.

Hal was thrown into the adjacent room, experiencing concussion. He twitched violently on the ground, before slumping motionless to one side.

Snake grunted as Vulcan Raven climbed in through the open window, pushing Johnny to one side. He didn't know what to say. His hand flamed with pain. Raven was silhouetted against the artificial light from the torture room. Snake lay in his shadow. Johnny stepped behind the large man. Vulcan's bare chest bared a scar from their last encounter.

"How did that heal?" Snake simply couldn't say anything else. He knew Raven wouldn't be in the mood for a catch-up gossip. He wished his hand would do the same.

Raven was here to return the favour. A knife to the gut. It would be quick, silent. Snake would leave the confines of the cell and expected a religious judgement. But it couldn't end here. He _had_ to save Meryl and Otacon. He shuffled backwards as Raven hopped through the next window to his cell. Raven blocked the only exit.

Snake pushed himself against the wall behind him, sliding up it to a slouched stance. Raven reached behind his back with back with confidence to reveal a shard of tank debris.

Raven wouldn't murder Snake. They needed him. REX would never work without him.

But his instincts took hold of him. He ducked down to his right to slam his fist into the back of the man. The sharp blade of the debris scraped a dent across the hard wall. Raven didn't lose his balance. His arm swung across to scrape Snake's left hand.

Johnny expected an unbelievable scream of pain and mercy from the retired soldier, but there was nothing. He could still hear the hum of the computer nodes in the room behind him.

Snake's hand was numb. After so much pain and mutilation, it was no longer a part of his body. An unnecessary side-growth. A deep cut left only a small red line. All blood had clotted at the wrist. As Raven pulled the blade away, the hand fell to the side of Snake, loose and limp.

He stood up and leapt through the broken window. Raven grabbed Snake's other arm, pulling him back into the room, over the cemented wall, over the shards of glass still attached to the bottom of the smashed window frame. Snake's bare chest took the strain. His muscles held tight, but he took a few shards, which embedded themselves into his side. The stained green glass tinted red.

"He's not going anywhere" Raven said to Johnny, as Snake lay on the ground yet again. "Shoot the scientist. He's dead anyway."

"What?"

Vulcan Raven pointed towards Hal Emmerich, the unconscious computer programmer. Saliva dribbled from his mouth, and his glasses remained cemented to his face.

"No, don't worry. He'll follow Snake. We'll see him again. Let these two go. They'll be on their way in a few hours. That's enough time."

The guard and the beast left through the torture chamber. The door slid shut behind them. Snake had three shards of thick glass in his side. He wasn't used to healing wounds like this. Let alone on himself. His codec rang. Thank God.

He tapped his ear with relief to speak to support.

"Snake. It's Miller."

"Liquid."

"Yes, well, your comrades don't know that do they?"

"Damn you."

"Enough of the pathetic clichéd lines, Snake."

"Get off this line."

There was a mild pause. Snake could hear a clicking sound through the static.

"...No."

"Where's Meryl?"

"That bullet to my kneecap still has me wounded you know, brother. We should love each other really. We are family after all."

Liquid's posh, British accent spat the words across the codec, talking down to his brother.

Radio silence. Snake didn't say anything. Perhaps if he were to stop talking, Liquid would leave the line, and he could get the medical attention he needed from his team.

"Did you know Meryl is the Colonel's daughter? It's a new one to me."

"Shut the f.."

Snake's shouting pained his chest, as the shards of glass wriggled in deeper.

"Are you injured?"

Radio silence. Snake breathed heavily.

"Just so you know, I'm on my way to see Meryl again. I'll send her my love from you shall I?"

Snake screamed into the receiver. No words, just a scream. It didn't last, as his muscles closed in around the wounds, pressurising the pain. Liquid switched off from his side.

"Snake. Are you alright?" Roy Cambpell ushered down the line.

"I have glass, stuck in my side. Get Naomi."

"Snake."

"Naomi."

"It's brute force I'm afraid. You need to remove the glass. The nano-machines in your body should help to a degree with the healing. Once you've removed them, push the suit hard onto the wounds. You need to compress the areas of bleeding."

...

Her back slammed hard into the rising elevator, kicking her head back up into the air. She was forced against the ceiling of the elevator as it steamed upwards into the darkness. Liquid had closed the grated panel. There was no way she could get in.

The lift continued to rise at an astonishing speed. It was not stopping.

When would this shaft end? There must be a point at which there is a highest floor. Would Liquid let her bones squash between the lift and the top floor ceiling?

Meryl clung on for her life as the lift sped upwards into the black abyss.


	15. Understanding the Situation

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**Author's Note: **Whoa. That was a long break. Hi to so many of you who have been following an subscribing over such a large gap in posting. I don't know what came over me. Thanks again you guys, and please let me know what you think in the reviews section. I really appreciate every comment. :)

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**- Understanding the Situation -**

Eyelids slowly flickered open. A blank stare at the ground, the surroundings becoming focussed. The upside-down world moved around him. "Urgh".

Hal woke up, lifted over the shoulder of Snake in a fireman's lift.

"Are you back with us?"

"Us?"

Snake removed the scientist from his shoulder. REX's creator readjusted himself and straightened the glasses on his face, squinting, allowing Snake to come into view.

"Me."

Otacon looked disheartened. He looked at the ground.

"I'm sorry, Snake" he sighed.

"What is it?"

"I let you down. I... I couldn't stop the guard. I'm such an... idiot."

"Hey."

Snake moved towards his future friend.

"Don't be sorry. You've been through a lot lately. I'm sorry for leaving you in that sniper fight. Don't beat yourself up about it. Besides, if you hadn't been there to make a big entrance at the cell, I'd have had little warning."

Snake smirked at his own joke. Hal looked up and attempted a smile.

"The sniper..." Hal continued his worries.

"Wolf."

"Wolf. Did..."

Hal paused, and looked back down at his feet, then to David's eyes.

"Did you have to hurt her? Did you have to... murder her?"

"Otacon, get a grip. I didn't kill Sniper Wolf."

"Meryl... Meryl killed her..."

Snake thought about what he had just said. Meryl... rookie Meryl had just managed to defeat one of the most experienced Snipers he knew without any help. _My God. _This woman would become the leader of Rat Patrol Team 01. Maybe finally he would understand where her ambition to lead would come from. He had never seen it before, but clearly these actions were there, just waiting to happen. Had the events prior to their second meeting been different somewhat, would his entire view of her be different? Was this chaos theory?

"Wolf would have shot you without a second thought. That woman is a cold-blooded murderer. I. I don't have... any sympathy for her." Snake told the lie strongly. He remembered Otacon's previous love for the woman. Wolf had had a human side. She loved dogs. She died with dignity, her corpse damp with the tears of scientist Hal Emmerich. Hal. His sister would die also in his arms. Naomi...

Snake's life came crushing down in his mind. The deaths, the consequences, the double-crossing, triple-crossing... why was he here? What could he possibly do to change all of these events for the better? Was that the real reason he was here? Was this it? Was this all there was to do? Overlook every single event that led to his death? Surely not. There had to be something more.

Snake shivered. While he was so determined for the repetition to end, the pain and suffering of those around him, he couldn't help but fear the implications of the term 'more'.

But right now, his friend was only slipping back into consciousness. Snake let Hal reach his arm over his shoulder for support. They moved on, Otacon oblivious of their next destination.

...

"Where's the hind?" Liquid's voice panicked through the radio. Thirty people could hear him, each with his question emanating from their belts.

"I can get him, I swear. I'll intimidate him to hell."

A woman's scream, distorted through the crackling static from Liquid's end.

"No matter."

...

Solid wasn't sure whether to tell Otacon about the future or not. Weighing up the benefits of letting Hal know was difficult. Nevertheless, Snake had very literally changed history already, yet events had still remained in a similar order. Meryl had still been taken from Sniper Wolf's hallway, Snake had been in a cell, escaped... What was to say that telling Otacon about the troubles ahead would have any effect at all? The worries remained inside his head. Just a little longer. Just to be sure.

No guards. No Hind. The CCTV surveillance camera watched Snake and Otacon move up steps. The door wasn't frozen. No guards. Something was wrong here. David helped Hal through the icy walkway, slipping every few steps. Hal's lab coat blew in the wind, and he zipped it up. No stinger missile launcher. What was going on here?

A humming began. The Hind was here, late. Snake couldn't go to the roof. There was nothing to fight it with. The psychotic brother hovered above the dark tower, waiting for his prey.

"Otacon, get the elevator working."

"Is it broken?"

"Just do it."

"Don't fight him, Snake. You can't beat a Hind D alone."

"I won't. I'm staying right here."

Snake collapsed to the ground in front of the dizzy scientist. Hal knelt next to Snake, having no idea what to do. Snake's bandana had taken all the sweat from his his head, and now began to drip onto the metal floor his face rested against.

"Snake, what's your status?" Campbell hammered at Snake's deteriorating eardrum. Otacon placed his hand on Snake's back to support him as he spoke into the dusty surroundings, his words digitally translated to code and sent at burst to a nearby submarine, translated back to analogue information for his comrades to hear.

"I'm on my way to REX. Where do you want me to be? I'm in one of the two communications towers. Don't expect me to know which one."

"So why so shy?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Get your sorry face up to the roof, brother. I have something to show you."

"Miller, I didn't realise you were listening to this conversation." Campbell replied.

Otacon noticed Snake's pupils dilate. Something was happening over his codec that was vital to his mission. Hopefully new intel that would get them out quicker. Perhaps the location of Meryl Silverburgh. Snake squinted. Something was wrong. Something was always wrong.

"Campell, this is Liquid Snake. You figured out that Miller was dead hours ago."

Liquid clicked off.

Snake kept his finger on his ear as Campbell, Mei Ling, Nastasha and Naomi argued at the reliability of their security.

"Snake, that is not Decoy Octopus. I repeat, that is not Decoy Octopus. My previous assumption must have been wrong."

"Campbell, did you jeopardise this mission, knowing Miller was a fake?" Naomi questioned the higher authority.

"Look, I don't give a damn about what you think. Colonel, did you have any idea about FoxDie?"

"Excuse me?" Campell sounded astonished.

"How did you know about that?"

"I think we should all just relax" Mei Ling tried to settle the unrest.

"I think you should all just shut the hell up". Snake spoke.

"Snake, how do you intend to take on a Hind D by yourself with no useful weapons?" Nastasha butted in. "I mean, I would be partially behind you if you had some sort of arial support, but Campbell, we can't risk everything at this stage. This is suicide."

"No, I'm not going up there. Colonel, is this line secure against Liquid?"

"Yes."

"Then get us out of here. The mission is over. Both the DARPA Chief and President Baker are dead. The terrorists do not have the ability to launch a nuclear attack. I repeat, the terrorists do _not_ have the ability to launch a nuclear attack."

There was a long silence. What would happen? Up until this point, every event had self-corrected itself. Everything was still the same as the last time he had lived these events. But how could the Colonel ignore this? These were his mission objectives, which were now complete. The only thing Cambpell could do would be to extract Snake out.

The silence continued. A desk chair creaked in the background. Otacon stood in the distance, staring at Snake nervously. He had no idea what was going on. Silence.

"Snake."

"I want you to continue to Metal Gear REX."

David stumbled backwards in shock. _No. No, this can't happen_. He fumbled at his ear, hoping to remove an earpiece, but it was no use.

"Snake what is it?" Otacon stepped in.

"No!" he shouted into the codec. It switched off. A further lingering pause.

"What the hell?" David whispered into the heavy metallic air. The stress grew inside of him. This was becoming too hard to take. He had already killed himself. The gunshot, the bullet passing through the back of his neck. He still remembered it. He breathed in deeply.

"What am I supposed to do?!" Snake screamed hard into the mouthpiece of his codec. His back clicked in three places, and his cheek cramped again under the burn marks of his first encounter with Ocelot and Frank. His words rang out vertically up the inner communications tower, losing their own echo to the distant sounds of churning helicopter blades.

"Snake. What's wrong? You can tell me." Hal continued.


	16. Chaos

**Author's Note:** Wow. I've had a massive break from posting chapters to . Sorry guys! And blimey! There's loads of people that have since subscribed for chapter updates. Big wave to fallacies, Pagosto McNasty, Manuel23, Dragon Aeon, and xKEMOx. I think that's it? Thanks an EPIC amount to Jman for the review. I love reading them and it makes it all worthwhile. I was nominated for the Most Creative Community Member 2009 on the Official EU PlayStation Forum yesterday for this story, and chapters are now being posted to TheSixthAxis every Sunday. So a big 'hello!', 'I'm back!', 'please review!' and if you're interested in any other things that I get up to creatively, check out my website, BritishEyeFilms.

* * *

**- Chaos -**

David slammed his fist against the grating. The skin parted, but he felt nothing.

"You need a sling." Otacon stuttered, trying to be of help.

"Here. Let me help."

Hal unravelled David's bandana from his head slowly with the tips of his fingers. The dark fabric was damp and smelt like dried sweat moistened by fresh excreted adrenaline. He knew how to tie a sling. The bandana wasn't strong, however. David had already used it to hold a sniper rifle by his side, which had inevitably snagged and torn. A double-fold would last thirty minutes.

"So you found your suit then?" Otacon tried to keep a tint of positivity in his voice.

David looked up at him. His face was still expressing his exhausted emotion, but the movement of the head was enough to confirm a 'yes'.

"So what did they say?"

"Otacon." Snake grunted. Hal looked on in hope.

"Go fix the elevator".

Hal's face fell. He turned and moved towards the lift door, mumbling to himself. "Is it even broken?"

Something wasn't right about the surroundings. Before, Snake had thought it was too quiet. _No, it's too loud._ It was. The sound of the Hind circling the top of the building had gradually built in volume during his codec call. If anything, it should have gotten quieter, as the helicopter moved towards the roof.

Sound easily echoed around the empty communication tower when it was loud enough, and the dimly-lit space amplified the 'swuffa-swuffa' noise from Liquid's Hind D. Water crept from David's eye as his ears popped. His right ear felt warm. He covered it with his left hand, his right now in a sling. Blood. A dribble of blood was evidently appearing from Snake's ear as he looked at the swipe of red across his fingers. The codec and screaming had finally taken their toll on his body.

'Swuffa swuffa swoofa swoof'

The helicopter blades were audibly slowing down, but increasing in volume.

'swoof swoof swoofa swuffa sfwuffa swiffa swiffa-swiffa'

The blades sped up again. The helicopter was on level with Snake and Otacon.

A tiny beeping could be heard. It was distant, but very much consistent.

"Otacon. Is that you? Is the lift working?"

"No. It's jammed."

"Then run."

"What?"

Snake grabbed Otacon by his coat and tugged him fiercely away from the elevator controls as the wall beside them burst alight with flames. Rock propelled across the room, embedding itself in the metallic support cage of the lift. Otacon swore.

While chunks of metal began falling from above, a turret gun already threw bullets into the open-aired tower, which ricochet off the surrounding crumpled metal banisters. Two entire walls fell vertically downwards amongst the smoke and fire, piling up on the cold winter ground, floors below outside. Both Snake and Otacon threw themselves to the ground.

The floor they were on bounced about beneath them as it began to give way due to the strain given by the framework of the building. The floors below de-connected from their wall mounts and fell downwards, piling on top of each other amongst the rubble of cement. One connecting mount was forced out of its place, causing the entire floor that Snake and Otacon lay on to tilt at a forty-five degree angle towards the Hind. The two grabbed onto the metal railings as their bodies began to slide downwards. The surrounding fire caused the metal to steam Otacon's fingers. He wrapped his arm around the newly-formed handle instead, while Snake held on with his right hand, his left tied up and useless.

A new round of bullets left the chopper and placed holes in the flooring around them. Hal covered his face with his left arm, knowing that the they would need to find a way to escape. Liquid wouldn't stop until they were dead.

"Otacon! Just stay where you are!"

Hal fidgeted with fear. There were bullets barely missing his feet.

Snake's codec rang.

"For God's sake not now!" he shouted out into the deafening rotating blades.

...

"Pick up! Please Snake! For the love of everything, pick it up!"

Her hands trembled over the headset as she hammered her index finger repeatedly on the call button, her breathing heavy.

"Snake!"

...

"What the hell?"

Liquid's voice on loudspeaker alerted Snake to the problems with the Hind. One blade jammed, causing the vehicle to spin on its axis mid-air, and tilt towards the tower. Otacon screamed as the chopper's blades rotated towards him, grinding up the remaining concrete and metal between him and the open air. The Hind door opened, and Liquid leapt into the sky, pulling on a tab embedded in his jacket to open up a white parachute. The Hind fell with him, barely missing flaming contact with Otacon before it moved towards Liquid, both falling towards the icy ground floor.

A mild rumble symbolised the chopper's contact with the ground.

Otacon reluctantly climbed down the building through its metallic framework, forced downwards by Snake's feet, which would occasionally step on his hands. For Snake, climbing down such a structure with only one arm available was incredibly difficult, and he felt encouraged to join Otacon with his painful moans. Hal made his thoughts known about health and safety during the fifteen minute downward climb. Snake ignored him.

His ear was still ringing. Given the fact that he knew what would be said, he didn't pick up. As they'd reached ground floor, the two sat on the piles of rubble to catch their breath.

"Answer it Snake."

Snake looked up at Hal.

"How do you know it's..."

"Your ear is dripping blood" the scientist interrupted. "Pick it up."

Snake sighed and clicked a concealed button on his suit.

"Yup?"

"Snake! Oh my God, Snake!"

"Mei Ling?"

"Snake, a butterfly cannot fly without wings. A butterfly suffers to live without wings. It is not lack of beauty that kills the fly, but the ability to move."

Mei Ling's voice was rushed and panicked. The proverb had to be said, although it sounded improvised. Her Chinese accent was breaking through the static with fear.

"Mei Ling. What is it?"

"Snake. Nastasha's dead."

"What?!"

"I just walked into her cabin to speak to her. My God, Snake! Nastasha's dead!"

"Are you sure? Was she even on the sub with you?"

"Her throat has been slit." Her voice was tearful. The fear was getting to her.

"There was blood, and... parts... just... thrown..."

"Ok, Mei Ling. Calm down."

"Calm down?! Snake! I've just seen a woman's... a friend's... body slaughtered in a few rooms away from me."

"Listen, I..."

"Snake. Whoever it is, I might be next." There was silence. Mei Ling was rubbing her running nose with a handkerchief.

"Mei Ling..."

"Just hear me out! ... Snake, the Colonel ... is not the Colonel."

"What? ..."

"The Colonel is not the Co..."

Static.


	17. The Dropped Body

**Author's Note:** Many thanks for the two reviews on the last chapter. Much love goes out to you. Keep them coming! I love your opinions, and it motivates me to keep going. The story from this point onwards moves into a slightly different style. As Snake and Otacon are now separated from Meryl, we'll see chapters contain events happening on different parts of Shadow Moses. The three dots often separate these locations apart, and if I feel it isn't clear that the location has changed, I state it in square brackets.

* * *

**- The Dropped Body -**

"Mei Ling?... Mei Ling?!"

"What is it?" Otacon asked.

Snake shuffled towards Hal. He looked nervous.

"I'm not supposed to tell you, as this information is classified..."

Otacon stared at Snake, expecting him to continue. Snake knew Otacon would know his team in the future, so it wouldn't make any difference to tell him now.

"The team in my ear. They've been sabotaged. But what I don't understand is one thing someone.."

"Mei Ling?"

"...yes. She said to me that the 'Colonel is not the Colonel'."

"...and who's the Colonel?"

"My boss."

"Hmm. What do you think it means?"

"I have no idea."

"Maybe he's taken something. You know, like a sedative. Maybe he went crazy."

"That's not like how I remember the Colonel."

Snake focussed. Fate had a sense of irony.

"Otacon, do you think you could do a trace on where the Colonel is calling me from?"

"Why? Do you..."

"Just do it."

"Well I can't. I'd need some tech."

"Use your optic camouflage then, and grab yourself a computer."

Otacon looked frustrated.

"Well if you hadn't been busy being unconscious, you would have realised that I handed my stealth to Meryl, so she could stop the woman who gunned you down."

"Why did you stutter just then?"

"What?"

"You stuttered. Just before the word 'woman', you paused."

"I... that lady shouldn't just be name-tagged with 'the woman'."

"Do you love her?"

Otacon blushed.

"No. Of course not. She wanted to murder me. I just think we should treat any dead person with respect."

Snake gave up trying to piece together Otacon's thoughts, and stood up. The dying blizzard hit both men as they opened the door to the outside. There wasn't much left of the door but a scrap of metal, which slid open slowly.

"Stay here." Snake instructed.

He lay on the ground and shuffled through the doorway. He had no rifle to explore the surrounding area in detail, but he still tried with his naked eyes. The passing wind caused them to water, but he continued to look nevertheless. Sniper Wolf was here. Although her hiding spot was terrible.

Snake could make out a figure lying on the ground in the middle of the snow-covered field. Wolf wasn't making use of the trees surrounding the perimeter. She just lay there. A dark figure in the distance. Waiting.

"Wolf is here."

Hal stepped through the door and walked out into the field.

"What the hell are you doing? I said stay inside! Get down!"

"Snake, Wolf is dead."

"No she isn't. Trust me, she isn't."

Hal continued to walk forwards into the field.

"Oh my!" Otacon exclaimed.

"I said get down!"

Otacon ran into the field, closer to Wolf. His image grew fainter as the flakes of falling snow between himself and Snake hazed the view between them. Snake expected a gunshot.

But everything was silent.

Snake had no weapon. Lying on the ground wouldn't help. If Wolf knew they were here, then it was already too late. He stepped out into the white clouds of snow, into the field.

"Otacon?!" He repeatedly yelled, to the reply of his own echo.

Crying.

Otacon was kneeling over Wolf's body, his tears dampening her frosty clothing as her face had turned a stone cold white, and begun to ice over. She lay limp in his arms as he brought her closer to him, his fingers running through her blood-stained golden hair. She had no gun. There was no threat. Drag marks in the snow beginning at her head proved that she wasn't living when she first arrived. Her body had simply been dragged into the middle of the field and left. She had been dragged by her feet. There was no decency in the manner that she had been moved.

Snake followed the drag marks, leaving Otacon with the body. The imprints continued for twenty feet from the sniper's final resting place, and just ended. The drag mark just ended. There was no sign of any footprint, vehicle, animal... It was as if her body had been dropped from above, and dragged the rest of the way. Only that whoever had dragged her hadn't left any marks to show how they had left.

The codec rang.

...

_[Elsewhere on the facility]_

"Did you know Raven is alive?"

"..."

"Solid Snake killed him."

"..."

Meryl stared at Liquid through narrowed eyelids.

"Co-operate, Meryl."

Her throat gargled, and she sniffed hard, pulling phlegm to the back of her throat. With the power of her neck and tongue, she forced the spit and blood from her scarred mouth onto Liquid's burnt shirt. He sighed.

"I know nothing."

Blood glistened on her teeth, and trickled from her lips. Her bare body shivered in the cold underground air.

"You'll talk eventually. Everyone does down here."

"..."

Liquid slapped Meryl across her face. Scars from the bullet wound to the cheek stretched and tore searing pain across her lower jaw. She screamed through gritted teeth.

"Scratch my nose for me. I've got an itch." she spoke sarcastically.

Meryl was bound to an old wooden chair. What was once neat gloss had cracked and revealed small shards of splintered wood. Small movements cut her bare legs, which were tied to the chair legs. She still wore her underwear, but it had become a dusty and tainted white, beginning to blend with the muddy stains of her aching skin.

Slamming the woman into the top of the elevator shaft seemed to not have affected her ability to move her joints. However, Liquid never saw Meryl's left arm bent backwards. She had sat on top of the elevator, trapped between two walls of metal. Her screams of tears were only heard by herself as she had snapped her arm back into place, falling back to the steel grating, knowing all too well that three toes needed to be realigned before she could escape. Liquid had found an unconscious Meryl. All joints intact.

This didn't stop them from hurting now. Tied up to splintered wood, her arm ached behind her while Liquid eyed her bleeding body.

"You know the future?"

Meryl remained silent.

"It's alright, Meryl. No-one can hear us."

"...only the immediate future."

"Got Mantis stuck in your mind? Hmm?" Liquid's talking was aggressive.

"Untie me."

"Tell me. Am I going to untie you?"

Meryl looked down at her trembling legs. Her knees moved together in an attempt to conceal her body. Solid Snake's brother was unclipping his belt.

"That's right. We missed an engagement didn't we?"

Meryl began to cry. She coughed with tears, blood splashing out from her mouth onto the gritty dirt beneath her.

"... No... No!" she shouted.

Liquid forcefully removed his belt from his trousers.

"...Please!" Tears were streaming down her face.

"Shut up." Liquid spat as he kicked the chair backwards, causing Meryl's arms to click under the pressure of the falling chair. She screamed hard in pain.

"Snake!" She cried. "Anyone?! Help me... please!!"


	18. The Alternate Perspective

**Author's Note:** Big thanks goes out to DarkDreamer776 and Twighlight Commando for the recent reviews! Who / What do you think killed Nastasha? I'd love to read your theories in the reviews. Finally, chapters are being uploaded every Sunday at 10pm GMT to TheSixthAxis, which will from now on be ahead of FanFiction.

* * *

**  
- The Alternate Perspective -**

_... [Three hours earlier] ..._

"Nastasha."

"Mei Ling. You're away from your desk?"

"I'm using one of the portable codecs. You should try it."

"No thanks. I like solid hardware. Equipment that you can see, examine, care for."

Nastasha detailed her love of bulky equipment to Mei Ling in her Ukrainian accent, comparing it to the machinery and intricacy of weaponry. It sooned turned to hatred, and her tone of voice grew sour as she began on nuclear weaponry. Mei Ling understood her. Her knowledge of mannerisms was outstanding.

"Is something bothering you?"

Mei Ling giggled under her breath momentarily at Nastasha's seriousness while she smoked, questioned her feelings and eyed her own bulky computer equipment with lust all at the same time.

"Nastasha. I need to talk with you."

"We're talking darling. Speak your heart."

Mei Ling walked back to the door and pulled tight at the rusting grey wheel at its center, sealing the room shut. A small thick circular window displayed the silhouettes of those who walked back and forth down the hall, sourcing communications and retrieving intelligence on the current situation from both Solid Snake and the American government. The submarine around them groaned as it continued on its course around the perimeter of the island, so as not to be detected.

Nastasha's room was full of junk. One uncomfortable sleeping compartment was embedded into the corner, surrounded by empty cigar and cigarette packets. The computer equipment took up the other half of the room. Wires traced back and forth to each ominous piece of whirring metal. The room was hot. Despite the eerie green light that lit them both in a manner to promote friendliness, but only exaggerating the dark patches on the walls, Nastasha sat next to one standing fan, which blew tepid air across her hands and lap. It was broken, with the only directional options being down and even further down.

"Must be serious. Did you want a cigarette? Oh, sorry. My mistake. Filthy habit."

Nastasha dropped the cylinder of smoke from her mouth and flattened it with her boot.

"Nastasha, when was the last time you looked at the Colonel?" Mei Ling asked as she pulled up a chair.

"Is this about his weirdness? Yes. I have to admit, I've seen it too."

Nastasha continued to look at the ground as the disposed cigarette sparked under her foot. She stomped on it again.

"What do you think it is? He hasn't been himself for quite some time."

"When did it start?"

"Soon after Snake reached the island. He's just... not right."

Nastasha leaned back into her seat.

"I'm sure it's just nervousness. It's a male thing. Where is Snake now? Do you know?"

"He's just coming up to the DARPA Chief."

"Huh. Didn't take him long."

"Nastasha, if you see anything, will you tell me?"

"What... in here?"

Mei Ling nodded.

"The Colonel is really acting strangely. I can't put my finger on it. I can still talk to him. He'll talk back in a normal conversation. But there are just moments... out of the corner of my eye... he twitches. I swear when I'm looking at the monitor, he just sits there and stares at me. No emotion. I'm sure his head is turned, facing me. Just looking at me. I look up, and he's looking at his own monitor. I never see his head move,"

"Sounds like a medical problem. I'd stay away from men and their medical problems."

Mei Ling looked nervous.

"I'll keep my eye on him, don't you worry 'Ling. I'm just in this room. If you ever need me, you know where I am."

"Ok."

Nastasha lit up another cigarette as Mei Ling unlocked the door.

"He'll be ok, don't worry. You know Roy, it's probably just sea sickness. We all feel a little cramped down here."

"Thank you, Nastasha."

"No problem. Come and see me in a little while, ok?"

_... [Present time] ..._

Snake picked up the codec. It was ringing hard in his ear.

Click.

The other side had signed out. He tried calling back to no response.

"That's odd." Snake spoke to himself as he walked back towards Otacon.

Otacon still lay with Wolf in his arms.

"Why are you holding her? She's dead Otacon"

"That's exactly why."

Events had changed. Otacon had loved Wolf before, and fate had to course-correct itself.

"What exactly compels you to love her?"

"I don't love her!" Otacon shouted back through watery eyes.

"Ok then. Let's keep going."

Otacon stood up and wiped his face. The two walked together towards the underground hanger, leaving Wolf's body to the fierceness of the approaching blizzard.

"Are you alright?"

"I'll be fine." Otacon sniffed once they were inside.

He looked towards Snake to show that he still had strength. His expression dropped however into a look of shock.

"Snake! Look at your face!"

"What is it? I can't see"

Snake's eyes looked downwards, crossing paths infront of his nose. Nothing apart from burn marks were visible below. Otacon approached him. David took off his glove and raised his hand to his face to feel for anything peculiar.

"Oh my God, your hands too!"

Wrinkles. Snake's hands were beginning to wrinkle.

This was a shock to Snake too. He had never had a chance to look in a mirror since he had arrived, and he hadn't considered much what time would have done to his body on his return. He was no longer the old man he had once been. While it was simply the FoxDie that had given him the looks of old-age, he now seemed much more youthful in visage. He was happy, yet Otacon still looked shocked.

"You didn't look like that before! There's wrinkles. Tiny wrinkles all over your face."

"So? It could be a lot worse. Why are you so bothered anyway? You've seen Mantis. That's enough to frighten anyone senseless."

Otacon fell quiet and checked his own hands. He was still relatively soft-skinned. He sighed to himself, hoping Snake wouldn't hear him. He did, but Snake ignored it anyway.

"Pick it up."

"Damn it Otacon. Stop telling me to pick up my own codec!"

Snake rubbed a dab of blood that had ran down to his chin and clicked the codec on.

Heavy breathing was audible on the other end.

"Hello?"

Heavy breathing.

"Hello?" David was getting frustrated.

"zero one one zero zero zero zero one zero one one zero one one zero zero zero one one zero one zero zero one zero one one one zero one one zero zero one one zero zero one zero one"

An automated voice read digits down the line.

Click.

The line went dead again.

"Who was it?" Otacon asked.

"Let's just go. I don't like this at all."


	19. Below Hell

**Author's Note: **Hi again everyone. Thanks for all the support you've given over the last few chapters. I'm sure you all know how great it is to read comments, however big or little. I sometimes write little tweets about the future chapters that I'm writing, so if you want little insights, follow me on twitter BritishEyeFilms. If not, I'm also on facebook. Try searching for 'British Eye Films'.

* * *

**Below Hell**

As Otacon and Snake walked downwards into the bowels of the island, Snake couldn't help but think of who was left to support him. Nastasha was dead. Mei Ling wasn't responding, the Colonel "isn't the Colonel", and Naomi… should be fine. So should the rest of the crew manning the submarine. It was nothing to worry about. If there was something wrong on their end, there were enough people to deal with it. They're fine.

"Snake. Are you taking me to REX? You know that's the direction we're headed, right?"

"That's exactly where we're going. There's an open exit out of the back of that hanger."

"But what about Meryl?"

"We'll find her."

"Metal Gear… I spent years designing REX."

"I thought it only took you twelve months?"

"How would you know?"

The two looked at each other and continued forward.

"You know Snake, you're going to have to do something about your…"

The door slid open, and the two were received with a burst of warmth from the furnace below. Otacon's forehead broke into an immediate sweat, while Snake leant against the door frame, breathing in memories of a never-ending corridoor. Otacon had stopped as he looked forwards. He rubbed his glasses as they misted up, and the image in front of him was confirmed.

Gray Fox.

"Fox" David stated.

"You are forgiven, my friend. I knew you would attack me, for you were as lost as I. Remember it well that I may save you once more, so that the honourable Saint may rise against glory, and stand for what is truly right."

Otacon looked confused and scared at the same time. He remained behind Snake.

The robot knelt on one knee and removed his blade from its holster. He held his arm to the ground and looked back towards the two men. The cracked red light on his exoskeleton skull flickered slightly and he raised the blade in the air. Otacon leant backwards.

Fox looked back at his arm and appeared to breath heavily before slamming the blade down on his metal ligament, severing his upper arm from his shoulder. The man cried out in unbelievable pain. Gone were the scratchy screams of robotic static from eariler, and in its place left the dire screech of agony of a man suffering from his own dismemberment. The chunk of metal covering Frank's head kicked up and down under the pain as his raw flesh bled itself dry. With his other hand, he took hold of his left arm, and pulled of the remaining natural tendons connecting his arm to his body. He collapsed into a pool of blood, murmuring in his own self pity. His shoulder stopped bleeding. His heart's functions were automated to another area of his body.

The noise stopped. Instantly. No minor sobbing or humming came from his head. His voice was detained from expressing his emotion. He stood up, trembling, quiet, and walked towards Snake.

David ducked a little as Fox grabbed his arm and held it against the wall.

"What the hell are you doing?!"

Frank brought the blade carefully to Snake's left-hand wrist, and slit the skin open.

Nothing. Snake felt nothing. Frank pushed the blade through until Snake's hand fell to the steaming floor below. After everything that hand had been through, it was almost a relief to have it rid of him, although the temporary relief came from being allowed to keep his elbow. The blood had clearly clotted at the wrist, and only a few drops of blood leaked from the whitened skin. Frank moved towards his own robotic arm on the floor. Snake looked at him in a fragmented sense of respect.

Sure enough, Frank came back to Snake and disconnected the metallic hand from its arm counterpart. Rusted fingers jabbed deep into the end of David's left arm. He felt it. Searing pain climbed up the back of his arm and through his collar bone, cramping his breathing temporarily. Frank un-clotted the wound, causing pulsing blood to burst out of Snake's wrist. Otacon watched on in horror and gagged as his stomach churned. Snake turned pale and looked upwards in a dysfunctional manner. The robot knelt down with the soldier as he fell to the floor. Snake hadn't feinted. His nano-machines were rushing around his body searching for the first thing to fix. The ninja fiddled at the end of Snake's arm. It's half-arm wiggled about mid-air while the other clicked pieces into place and redirected wires. The blood returned to the skin. The nano-machines were compatible.

Moments later, Snake was up, staring at his new robotic hand. The fingers moved but he felt no movement. He clenched a digital fist and stretched out each finger. His wrist was sore, but his hand felt nothing.

"Again, my friend." Fox spoke before picking up Snake's old hand, backflipping off the railing and crawling through an open air duct high up on the wall adjacent.

Snake looked at Otacon. Otacon looked back.

_… [Two Hours Earlier] …_

"Mei Ling."

Nastasha leant through the office door. Mei Ling span round in her desk chair in a bright manner to see who it was. She looked relieved.

"Come in."

"Thanks. I wish I had my own office alongside my working terminal."

"I know, but I have to come here to get away from it all."

Nastasha handed Mei Ling a scrawled note and a tape.

"Latest stats are in. We seem to have lost contact with Snake."

"I know. I've shouted and screamed down the mouthpiece, but he doesn't respond. I just hear static."

Mei Ling looked down at the piece of paper. There were no digits printed on the note, and the edges were torn as though in a hurry. Two short sentences were scribbled across the middle of the slip in heavy italics.

'We're being watched. When I leave, play the tape.'

Mei Ling looked up at Nastasha in a confused panic. Nastasha looked at Mei Ling with a straight face, avoiding eye contact with the security camera that monitored them from the corner of the room.

"I've got to get back to the codec. The Colonel was asking for you to return soon."

"Ok, thank you…"

The metal submarine door shut behind Nastasha, sealing Mei Ling into the room. She quickly span back round and slid the tape into a nearby machine, rapping her foot on the hollow floor impatiently while it churned away into place. Click. The machine was ready to go. Mei Ling threw on some ear phones and nervously hit the play button with a trembling finger.

"Mei Ling. I was unsure earlier if your suspicions of the Colonel were simply due to the situation that we're all currently in. So I decided to make a small check on him myself. It felt bad to do it to our own boss, but I felt it was necessary. At least we would all be able to laugh this whole thing off. Cutting a long story short, I've been tracking his codec output. It's odd. The Colonel is transmitting a frequency outwards that isn't being picked up by anyone. I've noticed you walk past my my office window when the broadcasts start, so I can only imagine he broadcasts when you've moved away from him. For that reason, you might want to listen to codec frequency one one nine point seven seven. I'll be back to you in five minutes, He watches the security camera monitors."

_… [Present Time] …_

"Otacaon, do you know binary?"

"A bit, yes. But I program in higher level language mostly. However, I did learn part binary, base level and ASCII in my earlier years."

Snake looked at him blankly.

"What?" Otacon asked.

"I got a codec call that read out numbers to me in binary. Do you think it was a coded message?"

"It could have been if it were ASCII. I would imagine if someone was speaking in binary, they may be giving a code for something else. It can't be the launch code for Metal Gear though. That was never programmed to accept machine code from an external burst transmission or source."

Snake grumbled and continued forwards. The lift was functioning, and the two were able to easily move into the next room. Otacon mopped his forehead as they left the blast furnace, and reached the larger underground hanger. He looked around in amazement of the size of the building.

"Get in."

Snake was already tapping the keys at the console to move the sliding floor elevator downwards. Otacon hurried along to ensure he was standing in place. A few beeps later and the floor beneath them rumbled as it slid horizontally downwards into the earth. Snake brought his fists up to cover his face, expecting guards to pour in from above, but no-one came. This was too odd.

His mind flashed back to the bodies littering the hallway up to Otacon's office. They were slightly out of place. Fate had changed due to his own actions, but it was not gone. He knew it would come back at him, because despite his beliefs on the world, recent events had made him see sense in the term 'fate'. His place in the world had no obvious meaning, and while the two men sat down on the moving floor, he wondered how alone he really was amongst the darkness of the underground facility. No-one knew him for who he had become. Snake, the legendary soldier, was just a legendary soldier. Nothing more.

He closed his eyes as a raven cawed in the distance, haunting his deepest memories and igniting his own fears for the inevitable future.

…

"Snake".

"Naomi! What's going on? I've been getting some scared calls from Mei Ling."

"She's fine Snake. Everyone here is calm. Can you just be calm with us too?"

Snake was instantly furious. He was being spoken down to, like the pawn that he was in this big setup.

"Why the hell am I going to Metal Gear? I already told you that there is no terrorist threat. They do not have the ability to launch the nuke."

There was silence on the codec, just as there was before.

"I'll put Campbell on".

"Snake."

"Colonel. What the hell is going on?"

Otacon looked upwards at Snake from the floor. Snake was pacing backwards and forwards on the moving lift.

"Snake… I… I need to… need to"

There was a distorted knocking sound across the line.

"Just continue to Metal Gear. It's not much further up ahead now."

David was ready to swear his heart out across the codec. He took a deep breath, and calmed himself.

"Were you broadcasting the binary?" David asked.

"What binary?" Naomi sounded suddenly anxious.

"I received a call with just an automated voice reading me ones and zeros."

"…"

"Well?"

"No, that's not important. Just ignore it Snake and keep moving. We're all fine here, so there's nothing to worry about. Mei Ling has calmed down and is continuing with her work."

"Yes Snake. I'm fine now. Just ignore what I said earlier. Nothing is wrong."

Snake remained silent.

"Are you injured Snake?" Naomi asked

"Are you badly wounded?"

Snake grumbled.

"I was. But Fox helped me."

"Fox?"

Snake put his right hand over his face and rubbed off the sweat. He scrunched up his face before he decided to reveal his knowledge.

"Yes, your brother."

"Oh yes, I remember telling you."

"Did you?"

"Yes. Before you found the scientist. I told you."

"His name is Otacon by the way, and he's with me now." Snake corrected her.

"Good… good. Well, ok. If you're both well, then we need you to continue towards where Metal Gear REX is being held."

"Why?"

Snake was angry.

"Because that is your mission." Naomi clarified.

"This mission ended ages ago. The DARPA Chief is dead. The ArmsTech President is dead. Master Miller is dead. The terrorists do not have the ability to launch a nuclear weapon, let alone man Metal Gear. You injected me with FoxDie, and I still need to continue?"

More silence, then a screech followed by the voice of a screaming woman.

"Anybody out there?! Help! Help me please!! Oh my God he's… aah!"

Static. Naomi continued. She hadn't heard the broadcast.

"… Yes."

Snake was stunned. He was still angry, but suddenly compelled to help whoever just broadcasted the burst transmission.

"And what if I decide not to?" he hesitantly continued.

"Continue to Metal Gear REX, Snake. That is your mission."

Naomi signed out.

As Snake moved to the second of two lifts with Otacon, they were joined by a swarm of ravens. Otacon cowered in the corner, while David leant on the railings calmly, watching the darkness swallow them up. Vulcan Raven was alive. Despite the stab wound from Snake, the man's huge body had quickly healed. Muscle and fat had protected his internal organs, and Snake could only imagine how he must have stitched the wound himself. Despite changing fate, Snake assumed Raven would be waiting for him below. Was it Raven's fate to die where he had died before?

Snake hoped so.

Clunk. The lift reached the bottom.


	20. When Hell Freezes Over

Author's Note: Thanks to all those who have added this story to their favourites, and subscribed - most recently, riddlebox89, Godofglory and Dark Phoenix Rising. This chapter is a little short than the ones before it because we're going to start time-jumping to events that happened on the sub a few hours ago come the next chapter. This just seemed like a good break. I'm loving the reviews, mega thanks, and I'm liking these theories. If anyone has any more, post them up.

* * *

**- When Hell Freezes Over -**

Otacon kept behind Snake as the hanger doors jammed. Snake forced his metal hand into the crack and found himself unbelievably shifting the door open a few feet.

"Snake. Do you have the key to disable Metal Gear?" Otacon trembled in the cold.

"…Yes."

"You know the trick to it?"

Snake couldn't let Otacon know. Even if he said he did, then it would be difficult arguing why they had both passed the furnace without heating up the key.

"…No."

"Get rid of it."

"What? Why?" Snake was battling with confusion.

"I'll hack the computer. I don't trust the key."

"You don't trust it?"

"I don't trust you to be honest."

Snake was slightly upset by the sudden turn in Otacon's approach. He opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by an extremely loud, booming voice.

"Snaaake!"

He turned around. Through the door stood a large dark figure in the distance. Vulcan Raven.

"No…" Hal started.

"Stay here." Snake instructed.

Hal stood back, shivering amongst the birds flying above, stalking his every movement. Waiting for him to fall.

Snake walked through the doors into the new room. Icy crates were stacked neatly in lines through the holding bay. Each had solidified to the next, and shimmered in the sparkle of frozen water. Raven walked forwards.

On his back he carried the bulk metal of scrap from a leftover F-16 plane. His large body took the weight, and every foot on the ground shook glitters of ice from their resting place on the surrounding crates. The turret gun, held in both hands, was enough to make any onlooker run for their life. Snake was not scared of this monster, however. He had already killed him in this very room.

Bullets were tossed about crazily, tearing apart the wooden and metallic crates that moaned under the pressure of those stacked above. Raven wasn't trying to hurt Snake, he was trying to intimidate him. Show him who had the power. The power and force of Liquid's Hind D were now attached to a man who Snake had already wounded. Every bullet left a bass-heavy ringing in Snake's ear. Vulcan didn't laugh. His face was totally serious. The firing stopped. The room creaked in his footsteps.

Raven approached Snake, the turret gun pointed in his direction. A slip of the finger would have sent fifteen shards of metal piercing David's body in an instant. David didn't run. He had no weapon but his fists to protect him.

"Snake. I have a message for you."

The man who Snake had stabbed, and met later in the holding cell once again towered above him. The size of his body and weapon shadowed Snake from the flickering light above, wet from melting ice.

"Whatever happens, I shall be watching over you."

Snake had heard it before. However, he could have sworn that the previous sentence was spoken just before Raven had died in this room.

"What do you want from me?" David asked.

"I won't shoot you Snake."

Raven's booming voice shocked Snake in the same way that many of his recent codec calls had. Nothing was making sense.

"Snake. Hear my words."

"I'm listening. Get on with it."

"Do not think that this illus…"

Raven stumbled backwards. The turret gun dropped to the ground, marking an indent, and shaking icicles on the ceiling. He moaned in slight pain.

"What the hell? Is it FoxDie?" Snake exclaimed.

Vulcan's arms were raised upwards, as though attached by strings. The F-16 debris was removed from his bare back, taking lumps of flesh with it. His foot twitched.

Snake watched in horror, as the man's limbs were stretched in opposite directions in front of him. Raven's foot continued to shake as it was lifted off the ground slowly. Raven shouted out words that weren't understandable.

"sion! Sto… urgh!"

A horrid triple crack sounded from the man's neck as his head twisted sharply to one side, and fell limp. His body fell to the floor. His diluted eye stared Snake blankly in the face. Vulcan Raven was dead.

David stared at the man's fresh corpse as it lay lifeless on the ground. The ravens above sang out in pain. He covered his face with his arms as an icy crate burst into flames high up near the ceiling.

"Hell no." Snake whispered to himself as the burning crate slowly shifted to the edge of the melting box beneath it. The wood creaked, and gave way, crashing down pounds of burning materials onto Raven's body. One metal shard clearly pierced Raven's stomach, and embedded itself into the floor under him.

Silence.

Otacon approached Snake cautiously, watching the empty room around him thaw up again. The ravens had already flew back towards the lift and were only just audible in the distance.

"Well that was quick." Otacon spoke in mild fear. He hadn't seen the recent event.

Snake looked at him in disgust. Snake had held some respect for Raven deep down in his heart, and the sudden death had shocked him to the core. The man was just about to help him, but all that remained was silence. A cold, lonely, dead, silence.

"Snake, I think I've figured out what's going on with the Colonel."

David was instantly distracted from the sudden horror, and put full attention on what Otacon was about to tell him. He needed answers, and he needed them now. Metal Gear REX's hanger was only two rooms away, and if they were to successfully find Meryl, avoid Liquid and Ocelot and get both Meryl and Otacon out alive, Snake was going to need to understand why Mei Ling was so scared about the Colonel, and what had caused the brutal death of Nastasha Romanenko.


	21. The Mole in the System

**Author's Note:** Hi guys, thanks for the reviews! If you're reading, pop me a little comment as a review and I'll love you to bits. I'm also desperate for twitter followers. BritishEyeFilms. Plugging aside, hi to SgtKang, the latest person to add this story to their story alerts. Thanks :)

I really enjoy writing this guys, and while I'm totally broke and not asking for money, motivate me with your thoughts. :)

Time to build more tension with a trip back to the sub. Oh yes.

* * *

**- The Mole in the System -**

_… [Twelve hours ago from present time] …_

The dark room hid the eyes of the two who stood facing each other. A distant monitor hummed over the sound of deep breathing.

"Do you think you could kill a man?"

"In what way?"

"Undercover. Gun, head. Quick."

"Yes."

"Good."

Ocelot handed his undercover an automatic pistol. They took it in their hand and tucked it into their clothing. The hard metal felt warm against their skin. It had just been used.

"Who's the target?" they asked in a monotone voice. No worry hindered their ability to talk.

"I'll be on radio contact. There'll likely be more than one person. Could be male, could be female. I'll instruct you as you go along." Ocelot's moustache bounced about under his nose as his lips outlined gruff words.

"Ok Shala…"

"You know that you may need to die for the mission to be a success?"

"I do. That's fine by me. Just give me the drop-off point and I'll do whatever is necessary."

"He'll be proud of you." Ocelot put his arm on the undercover's shoulder reassuringly.

They looked down and sighed.

"I know."

"Be a mole for me. Keep your com on twenty four seven. I want to hear every word from the people around you."

"No bugs?"

"No. We can't risk anything. If anything… anything… seems out of the ordinary, it'll all be over. You act normal. As soon as I give you a name, you get up, move to that person and shoot them dead. Two bullets in the head. No questions."

Ocelot handed them a small silencer. They immediately checked the clip at the end. Satisfied with how to connect it to the gun, it was slipped into a pocket.

"You make sure Solid Snake talks to you."

The undercover nodded, swallowed, and took a deep breath in.

"Ok… I'm ready."

_… [One hour ago from present time] …_

Mei Ling slammed down the headset as Naomi walked into the room. They both stared at each other. Mei Ling looked relieved.

"Oh my God, Naomi… Nastasha…"

"What?" Naomi didn't seem moved by Mei Ling's tearful face. Her mascara had run down her cheek, and one eye was bloodshot. Naomi remained calm.

"What's going on Mei Ling?"

Mei Ling pointed franticly through the open door. From where she was sitting, she could see down the short corridor to what was once Nastasha's room on the right hand side. The door was closed. Naomi turned around and walked slowly towards the cabin. Her eyes medically studied the stains of sweat on the rim of the door. She had little emotion at this stage. There was every reason to doubt everyone on board of anything.

Naomi placed her hand on the door release. Mei Ling stood up and screamed from her own room.

"No don't open it!"

Her voice crackled, and she coughed violently to one side. Her voice had never strained itself so much, and she moved back to her chair. Her hand shook uncontrollably as it found the armrest. She slowly sat down, turning away and running her fingers through her hair.

Naomi could see through Nastasha's cabin window. It wasn't a pretty sight.

"What the hell is going on?" Campbell stormed in from the adjacent corridoor, close to Naomi. His forehead was glistening with sweat, and his eyes were dark from lack of sleep. Naomi looked up at him and readjusted a smile.

"Nothing, sir. I was just returning to my office. Mei Ling just had a nightmare, hence the scream. I've just settled her."

"Very well. Make sure Mei Ling is awake. This mission isn't over." The Colonel nodded to Naomi and turned back to return to the communications room.

Naomi returned to Mei Ling's office. The young woman was rocking backward and forwards slightly from her desk chair. Her forefinger rapped nervously fast on the arm of the chair.

"Why didn't you tell him?"

"The last thing we need right now is more people panicking." Naomi stated calmly. She looked down at Mei Ling with slight pity.

"She knew… she knew…"

"Sorry? What do you mean?"

"Nastasha knew what was wrong with the Colonel! She contacted me on the codec to meet her in a few minutes from her broadcast. I waited… then…" Mei Ling cried heavy tears. "I opened the door to her room…"

Naomi put an arm around Mei Ling.

"The smell Naomi… My God! There's someone on this submarine who did that!"

"What did you mean about the Colonel?"

Mei Ling was staring at the floor in a state of shock. Natasha's body still littered the office a few rooms down the hall. Her friend. The only person who shared her feelings. Mei Ling couldn't move her eyes. She wanted to, she didn't want to. She didn't know what to do. Her body couldn't stop shaking, and her brain was losing sanity at an extremely fast rate.

"Mei Ling…"

"The Colonel is not the Colonel. The Colonel is not the Colonel…"

"Mei Ling! What do you mean?" Naomi's words were pronounced clearly in the hope that they could be getting through to the mentally scarred woman.

"There's something wrong with the Colonel! Can't you see that? He's… reacting strangely to everything. Why can't you see?" Mei Ling screamed into Naomi's face. The last words turned to a whisper as her throat lost its energy. No one was safe. Naomi had to know that. Everyone needed to be together, but that was a risk in itself. Mei Ling's shoulders tightened before loosening. She feinted.

Naomi reacted on instinct, and lifted Mei Ling from the seat. Her boots skidded as she was dragged by her arms through the wet corridors towards the communication room.

Human survival instincts are naturally badly judged when thinking quickly. Time slowed on the submarine as the surrounding walls sank in the situation unfolding around them. Mei Ling's feeble body shut down to avoid further mental trauma. Her head slowly rocked from side to side as it rolled about on the moving floor. Naomi, a quiet doctor in high heels dragged an unconscious associate through dark dank hallways in slow motion. Grit stuck to the bottom of her legs, and every step sounded a tiny boom of heel against grated metal. No-one appreciated the detail of fear racing through the woman's face. Beads of sweat dropped from her forehead onto Mei Ling. Every slow-motion tug of the body strained on her already weak muscles. The Colonel sat at the codec interface, watching green dots move slowly about a digital map. His eyes slowly followed the positions of items and people amongst the terrorist-inhabited island. Nastasha had never called for help when the knife stabbed her in the side. Her screams of death were unheard under a routine tannoy announcement. She died with the secret of the face of the killer.

Ocelot's mole was somewhere in the sub, waiting for their next command. They knew everything that he needed to know. They knew where every person was on board at any one time, and they knew the position of Solid Snake, Hal Emmerich and Meryl Silverburgh.


	22. Otacon's Secret

**Author's Note:** Same as last chapter. Pleeeeease follow me on twitter! [at] BritishEyeFilms. Also let me know what you're thinking in the reviews!

* * *

**- Otacon's Secret -**

_… [Present time] …_

Otacon stared Snake in the face.

"We'd better get moving. I'll tell you as we move. I just want to be out of here."

Snake grabbed Otacon's shoulder, stopping him from walking further through the room.

"Tell me now."

"Can we just keep moving? I really want to get out of here."

"Talk."

"Get off me!"

Otacon ducked backwards out of Snake's grip. It was forceful – a trait that Snake hadn't seen before in the scientist. Otacon stood shaking in the cold. His hair fell in strands in front of his face. Sweat.

"Otacon, you're sweating."

"So?"

"This is one of the coldest rooms in the entire complex."

"Can we just go?"

"Otacon, there are hundreds of armed security cameras through the next room. Tell me what's wrong with the Colonel."

"They won't fire if I'm next to you."

Snake looked at Otacon closely. The scientist's eye twitched slightly. It wasn't the cold that was encouraging a reflex.

"Ok, ok. I just want to run ahead a few crates to check the coast is clear".

Snake ran on the icy ground. Each step crushed down on loose grains of ice, kicking up a powdered snow behind him. He stopped two crates down and turned to watch Otacon follow. He was looking directly at David. He didn't look around; his eyes and head were fixed. His face may have shown emotion, but his gaze did not change. One leg buckled ever so slightly on each step, and his arm looked out of place. Disjointed.

"Clear."

Otacon sighed in relief and looked around the room, ready to continue.

David took three steps towards the door before spinning round and slamming the base of his hand into the bottom of Otacon's jaw. He fell back in shock, hitting the ground with a bleeding nose. David pulled him to his feet, grabbed his arms and pushed the man's chest down into his knee. The winded man stumbled backwards. Snake ran around him and grabbed him in a neck-hold. Otacon was breathing heavily with fear.

"Who the hell are you and what the hell have you done to Otacon?" Snake hammered in the man's ear.

The suspect's breathing slowed, and calmed down to a steady pattern. Warm blood from his nose dripped off his bruised chin and dissolved into the ice below, melting it into a thin slush of red water.

He laughed.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Snake tightened his grip on the man's neck.

"I swear, I swear I will break your neck if you don't tell me now."

The laughing stopped.

He spoke in a calm, mature voice. This was not the innocent, high-pitched voice of Otacon, but a deeper, monotone voice.

"If you want to see your friend again, alive, you will let go of me, and walk by my side through the next room to Metal Gear REX."

Snake paused as his mind filled with his own questions. His eyes became fixated on the nothingness of metal in front of him. He had been had. This couldn't be possible.

After a few moments, his released his grip on the man and stepped backwards.

"Thank you." The man pinched his nose to stop the bleeding. The floor beneath showed a line of crimson.

"Shall we?"

The two men slowly walked out of Raven's chamber and into view of the CCTV.

"You want answers, don't you Snake?"

Otacon's mouth moved, but it was not his words. Not his voice.

Snake remained quiet as they entered the waterfall room. The floor beneath them turned to a walkway above a great drop into the sewer below. A waterfall from a shadowed pipe filled one wall below with a vast green stain and blew cold air in the direction of the two men. Security cameras lined the perimeter of the raised walkway. Excessive. There were around forty cameras, each equipped with automatic weapons, each following the steps of the two men. They drowned out the splash of the water below with their unison whirring as each one turned slowly to track them.

David felt sick. Otacon was by his side, but this wasn't Otacon.

Was this what Mei Ling had meant about the Colonel?

He tripped over himself in dizziness. The man beside him helped him up calmly.

"Come now, Snake. This is your destiny."

Snake held onto the handrail. His knees were shaking. This was too much to take in, and he knew whatever would happen through the next room would be even worse.

"Who are you?" Snake asked.

"I am Otacon."

Snake leapt onto the man, forcing him against the handrail. The man he had once known as his friend leant over the banister backwards. His feet left the ground. Snake pulled him back and slammed his fist into Otacon's face. As the scientist cowered, Snake removed a gun hidden in the man's back pocket. Otacon straightened up and coughed lightly.

"Put it down." He spoke softly.

Snake pointed the gun at Otacon's forehead. His hand dripped with sweat, while his left hand twitched mechanically.

"What is in that next room then? Hm?"

"The next hanger contains Metal Gear REX. But you already know that, don't you, Solid Snake?"

The cameras had stopped moving, and the sound of falling water had taken their place over the mechanical hums, adding to the empty awkwardness of the situation. Snake answered the man's previous question.

"Yes I want answers."

"And you shall have them. Follow me. The path to your answers is short now."

"Move."

Snake lowered the weapon. Part of him wanted to see the man die for betraying him. Another couldn't. This was Otacon. This was his friend. Another part of him just wanted the answers to stream out of him, even if they weren't the answers that he wanted.

David had already died. He had already come to terms with not needing to know any more. He had come to terms with the situation around him. But now, everything was different.

Otacon's body walked forwards.

A card was waved over a sensor, before the door to REX's hanger slid open.


	23. Through the Smoke

**Author's Note: **Thanks so much to Shadow Commando's comments in the reviews. Keep them coming, and I open it to anyone else reading to have a say. I seem to have squished two chapters together at some point, so here I'm splitting one chapter into two. What was originally called "Smoke and Mirrors" is now in two parts, the first being "Through the Smoke". The next will be "Past the Mirrors".

* * *

**- Through the Smoke -**

REX stood towering the entrance to the cold, dark underground warehouse. Snake looked up as the haunting mechanical monster stood lifeless in the shadows above him, staring blankly at the wall. This was it. Fate had brought him around in a true circle.

Metal Gear was huge. Despite the expected claustrophobia from below-ground tunnels, this room stretched into the distant darkness, with no horizon or knowledge of its boundaries, yet the air sat dense on Snake's shoulders. Otacon's breath was visible in front of Snake's face as the man took back his pistol and pushed it into his back, encouraging him further into the room.

More metal walkways in a scaffold formation lined the bipedal tank on multiple floors, and Snake was ushered up the ladders, reaching closer to the top floor. Each floor he would look over the handrail, watching the darkness swallow up the previous floor as he waited for Otacon's body to catch up. The control room was visible from every point on the raised walkway, and the eerie stare of Liquid and Ocelot watched him through the bulletproof glass of the room, overlooking the entire mechanical structure and the walkways surrounding it.

The last time Snake had been here, they had been in the same place, and Snake had needed to return to both the blast furnace and Raven's chamber in order to mould the card key to deactivate REX. It had all been a trick. The terrorists hadn't known the fact that it was heat and freezing that changed the shape of the key alloy, and used Snake to activate the machine when he thought he was deactivating it. Not this time. Snake still had the key. He wasn't returning to change its temperature. The lifeless tank in the warehouse would remain lifeless.

Snake knew the outcome. He had stopped everything from going wrong.

But there was still one problem.

Otacon and Meryl.

He thought it was his reason for returning - to save them both. He hadn't even been given a chance in the torture chamber to save either. Otacon now stood behind him, but it wasn't Otacon.

"Let him in."

Liquid's voice echoed through the warehouse speaker system.

The door clicked as it unlocked, allowing Snake to enter the control room. Liquid and Ocelot stared at him as he walked in, followed by the image of Otacon.

The first few seconds of meeting was uneasy. Ocelot stood in one corner of the small room with half an arm, and Liquid leaned heavily on a walking stick. They both caught sight of Snake's left hand, now robotic and much more powerful in a fist fight. Snake's position of weakness was somewhat ironic in the given situation.

"Lock the door." Liquid spoke to the man behind Solid.

Ocelot looked up, allowing Liquid to continue. He had once admired the man, and it seemed history had remained true.

"Despite what you think you may have done, brother, the..."

"Where's Meryl?" Snake interrupted.

Liquid sighed.

"You're not seeing the bigger picture."

Ocelot looked on with a hint of disgust under his moustache.

"The man standing behind you is Decoy Octopus."

Snake remained silent. His brother's revelations weren't impressing him half as much as it impressed Liquid.

"I have the key to Metal Gear. If you don't want me to destroy it, you will give me a direct line through to my standby crew." Snake stated.

"Soon, brother. Soon. Don't get ahead of yourself."

Ocelot stepped forwards. His gruff voice spoke wisdom over those of Snake's brother.

"You might be wondering why you're here." There was a strong emphasis on the word 'why'.

Snake looked confused.

"What do you mean?"

Ocelot outstretched his arm and turned a little on the spot.

"Here."

Every man looked at each other silently. No-one wanted to reveal what they knew in case the other didn't know themselves. Ocelot broke the silence.

"Now. The date. The year."

Snake stared the man in the eye. David was scared.

"Oh yes, I remember." Ocelot spoke slowly.

"I remember you ... slamming... your fist into my cheek."

David didn't speak. He couldn't. He physically couldn't bring himself to interrupt.

"Don't pull that shocked face, you piece of bait." Ocelot was angry, and walked forwards to join Liquid. His words increased in pace and sarcasm.

"I mean, let's not forget how the legendary Solid Snake beat the lonely, pathetic Ocelot. Let's be open shall we? You woke up on this island. You shot yourself next to the real legend. Big Boss. You died, Snake. You can't escape a bullet through the back of the mouth. That would be a true miracle."

"Or advanced technology."

A different voice spoke from behind Snake. It wasn't Octopus. It was deep, slow, taunting. Snake slowly turned around. Long black hair fell in front of the man's face. He wore little clothing, but loose trousers, held up by straps over his shoulders. His bare feet were white against the cold steel floor, and he stared David in the face as he parted his hair to reveal his ghostly pale face.

Vamp.

Snake spoke with a tremble in his voice.

"Start making sense, or I will break this key in half."

Liquid looked to Ocelot before he spoke.

"Now, Snake, you're going to have to listen to me, and listen to me very carefully." Liquid began.

"This isn't the place to start making threats or demands. We are not here to kill you. Before you decide on any heroics, you need to remember the situation you are in. If your two friends on this island mean little to you, then you may find it useful information that your crew in the submarine are currently being held hostage."

The mysterious codec calls. The panicking Mei Ling. The death of Nastasha. The Colonel... From the very beginning, there had been someone on the submarine able to watch David's every move, relay it back to these... people. Terrorists.

"What I will say at this point is that failure to co-operate with us will lead to a few incidents."

The room felt colder than ever. There were at least fifty crew members on that vessel. Every single one of them would be currently sitting on the ground with their hands behind their heads, praying to the Gods that it wouldn't be their day to die. Their fate rested in the hands of Solid Snake. He felt uncontrollably sick.

"So shall we get started?" Liquid announced, energetically.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I just lost a fan on my facebook page. D: So if you haven't already, can you 'like' me (BritishEyeFilms) by typing in 'BritishEyeFilms' in facebook, and clicking on the 'website' page. Thanks so much. :)


	24. Past the Mirrors

**Author's Note:** Here's the second part of two from "Smoke and Mirrors", one chapter split into two. My plea for some love on facebook last week failed miserably. If you like what you're reading, follow me on facebook by searching "BritishEyeFilms" and 'like' the 'website' page. Shoutout to Shadow Commando, 22k5 and Anon for their reviews this week. Keep them coming, I'm loving reading them. :)

* * *

**Past the Mirrors**

Vamp moved to the controls and picked up a telephone. The wire stretched as he brought it across his scarred cheek.

"Mantis, get here please."

Mantis was already behind Vamp before the phone was replaced in its holder.

Pshyco Mantis. No.

"But you killed yourself..." Snake's thoughts fell out of his mouth.

"No I didn't. I asked you three to leave."

Mantis hovered slightly above the ground. The tips of his shoes slid slowly across the metal ground as he moved silently over to Snake.

"You didn't listen, did you? You didn't listen to what I told you."

"Let's calm it down, Mantis." Decoy Octopus reassured Mantis from the other side of Snake. Octopus was the only person Mantis could relate to. They trusted each other, and Mantis' heels touched down.

Snake was still in a state of shock. None of this should be happening.

"So when I shot the DARPA Chief..."

"That was the _actual_ DARPA Chief, yes." Ocelot confirmed.

Liquid smiled.

"By the way Snake" Liquid started.

"You can fight for that woman all you like, but from what I hear, you'll never get her... If you know what I mean."

David's lips tightened in anger and his eyes turned to slits. His heavy breathing was heard by every man standing in the room. The tension between peace and fury was balancing on a very thin line.

"Vamp, what's the information on Arsenal Gear?"

There was a slight pause before Vamp answered.

"RAY is outside. Once we bring REX to Arsenal, the second phase can begin."

"What is this all about?" Snake shouted.

"Would you shut the hell up!" his brother shouted in his face.

"Very well." Ocelot answered Vamp.

"Answer me!" Snake's throat seized up.

There was an uneasy pause, as four men stared at a humiliated Solid Snake.

"Liquid, patch me through to Naomi." Ocelot walked towards the controls and picked up the phone.

Tears glistened in David's eyes as the white-haired man spoke clearly down the line to his comrade. David's friend.

"Naomi, is everyone there?"

"Yes." Naomi's voice filtered into the control room. Decoy and Snake looked upwards as the words sank through the increasingly warm air.

"The Colonel?"

"He's here. What do you want me to do?"

The tears had left David's eyes, and began falling slowly down his face. Naomi was the traitor. Ocelot looked at Snake. He could see the fear build in Snake's face, and looked back to the glass to deliver a cold order.

"Shoot the Colonel."

"Nooo!" David screamed. He ran out to kick Ocelot away, but Octopus grabbed his arm tightly, causing his body to fling backwards and trip onto the hard metal floor.

A gunshot through the static, and a long, lifeless silence.

"That'll be all for now". Ocelot calmly replaced the phone.

Snake lay on the ground, crying.

"This is all real, Snake. Don't for one second think you have the authority to ask any one of us a question for your own personal gain."

"Fate will bring him back" Mantis whispered to Ocelot.

"There is no fate here." Ocelot announced to the entire group.

"Every single person in this room is living proof of that.

"Vamp, tie Snake up will you? Let's not have another outburst." Liquid asked.

Snake's limbs were forcefully wrapped around a desk chair, bound with multiple knots. Vamp had already seen him break handcuffs, and now wasn't the time to see it again. A small thimble of liquid was held in front of his face. Snake squirmed, and Vamp grabbed his nose, pushing in Snake's cheeks in with his other hand. The poison dribbled into his mouth, and flowed over his tongue towards his stomach. His brother walked over and slammed his fist into his face before he fell unconscious.

"Get the woman and the scientist" a distant voice ordered.

"They're next."


	25. Her Final Breaths

**Author Notes: **It's been about 3 years since I updated this story with chapters. My bad! Well, I finished the story but never uploaded it here. I'd just like to thank warrior.831 for adding the story to their favourites list and popping up in my email to remind me! Thanks also to everyone else who's contacted me through my facebook and twitter (/britisheyefilms). The story hasn't ended yet! There are more chapters to come!

* * *

**- Her Final Breaths -**

Meryl ran for her life.

Her hands were bound behind her and her bare feet were torn apart from the crumbled cement littering the tunnel floor. Her clothes flapped behind her, in shreds, flooding un-natural light onto her bleeding skin. She screamed with every step in pain as she limped towards the darkness.

She had remembered. It had taken this long to understand her emotions, but it had finally clicked in her mind. Foreseeing the rape was not an imprint left by Mantis. It was the past.

Skin against cold cement padded down an empty corridor, searching desperately for an exit. She hopped on one foot twice in a failed attempt to relieve the pain from the other.

A door. She slammed it open, its broken hinge snapping the weak plastic binds on her wrists, and continued running across steel-grated floor. The small sharp holes beneath her sliced into the already infected wounds, causing her to fall forwards. She pushed herself back up using a handrail, not stopping to trip. The door behind her cracked as it flew off it hinge and span violently across Meryl's head. She ducked, screamed, but didn't stop running. There was no time to stop. Her voice screeched in pain as specially moulded cylinders of dense metal forcefully flew past her body, clipping at the flooring in front of her, the handrail beside her, and the ceiling above her.

Sparks filtered down as a strip light disconnected from its wiring, falling down in front of her. She jumped through the bright flash as it temporarily electrified the floor around her.

Over the handrail, through double doors, down another metallic corridor, falling down dirty steps...

She fumbled at the edges of a sealed air duct entrance, much as before. She sat back and cried as she forced her foot against the panelling of the cover resulting in excruciating pain. Flesh parted as it rubbed against raw metal and she kicked again, detaching the panel from the duct. She threw herself inside and crawled on her hands and knees through claustrophobic vents. The thin floor dented with each slip of the wrist. Her joints slid around the interior of the metal casing, lubricated by blood. She closed her mouth to try to contain the painful moaning, but a high-pitched cough and pained laughter made her more easily locatable from the beast that followed her.

A deep creak echoed down the artificial tunnel. They were in the vent with her.

Her hands slipped as she dragged her body away from the ominous sounds of groaning metal. Fingernails broke as she hooked them around small strips of metal connecting each part of the duct, resorting her to push herself further along with her bare knees, grinding against the screws beneath her. A thin layer of dust was beginning to coat her lungs, and her mouth opened to cough out its contents.

A gunshot further down the vent, and the bottom of her knee took the bullet deep into its base. Her voice failed to express the searing pain that engulfed her entire leg as it spasmed uncontrollably. The sudden jolt of her body broke a disjointed fitting in the framework she fell against, falling free into the open air. Her legs flailed beneath her on the short trip downwards. One tucked itself towards her stomach, and the other, with a dirty entry wound straightened bolt outright, crumpling beneath her body as she fell against cemented steps. The right leg had bent to the left, disconnecting from the knee joint and fracturing in several places. Raw scream mixed with the flickering gritty yellow and green underground lighting that lined the stairwell. Spit and blood from her mouth blew out in strings, attached to her lip with sweat.

The blood within her arms and legs panicked, redirecting to the heart for next instructions from the brain. Her broken leg, lying limp beneath her back was a chalked white. Still, the force continued through the ducts. Never stopping. Death really was the end. There was no God here.

The walls around her hazed as creaking metal increased in volume. The time to embrace the true end. No judgement. Just the end. No one was coming to save her.

Despite her head bleeding from the backlash against the sharp step, she lifted it and coughed blood, moaning undecipherable words and blasphemes. Her body moved, and she fell forwards onto a small amount of flooring. This couldn't end now. She remembered everyone. Snake, Dad, her husband.

_I'm married._

She crawled around the bend in the flooring, and threw her body down the next set of concrete steps. Her right leg span through the air, and her throat tightened to let loose a scream she never knew she was capable of. Her face was red, and her hair was beginning to fall out in clumps after what that creep had done to her.

Boots against concrete. He was coming.

Her wet hands crept up the wall and grabbed the banister. Her muscles pulled her body slightly above the ground, and she pulled herself downwards into the grit and dirt of the floor below. The bleeding woman hit the ground hard, coughing up drips of vomit. Her leg was broken and her body cut. Looking up from the dirt of the underground tunnel floor, the silhouette of death walked at a brisk pace down the steps towards her, passing a trail of fresh crimson.

Meryl turned away. Her breathing was erratic as her arms dragged her body towards a door, blurred by her mind, desperately trying to assess and understand the situation.

Liquid Snake dropped his empty gun, and jumped down the last concrete step as Meryl crawled through the door, slowly pushing it shut. Clumps of red hair littered the stairway and small corridor, tinged with green from the flickering lights surrounding them.

He approached the wooden door fast as it closed. Meryl pulled herself up from the inside using the door handle, leaning on her left leg, shaking under the pain of the embedded bullet in her right kneecap. Shaking with fear. There was no lock to the door, and she pressed herself against the cold wood, praying to a God she had lost faith in.

A broken pipe above leaked raw sewage over her hands as she collapsed against the door, when a sharp blade cut quickly through the pine, scratching the back of her arm. She screamed and moved her body away, pushing the temporary barrier with just her hands as Liquid slammed himself against the other side. Her bloodied hands slipped about on the wet door, and the muscles in her arms weakened. He wouldn't stop.

Sewage flicked back onto her face with the next bang, and she spat at the ground; her stomach churning. Blinded by pipe water, she closed her eyes tight, and the hell around her turned to black.

Her arms still fumbled on the door as it fell off its hinges, and in a desperate battle of strength between the two, she managed to stay on the opposite side. Liquid swore insults, echoing from the hall behind her. Her head span fast to find the sound, and what was left of her hair flung across her wet face. No one there. She turned back quickly to see the dark, cold stare of Liquid Snake standing above her. He didn't smile as the knife was thrust into her gut. She jolted forwards in silence.

Meryl fell towards Liquid.

He held out his arms to catch her.

Her eyes flickered before they closed. This was the end.

Blood trickled from her mouth once more, and she lost all sense of reality.

Liquid dragged the woman's lifeless body down empty corridors. Into the darkness. Further down into the ground. Meryl. Silence.


	26. The Bomb

**- The Bomb -**

"Stay the hell back or I swear I will shoot this gun at whoever moves."

Naomi stood above the warm body of Colonel Campbel, surrounded by Mei Ling and other crew members. Mei Ling's mascara began to run from her eyes as she looked at her friend, her gaze returned with the end barrel of a pistol. No-one knew the dead father's daughter had ran from a murderer, bones broken, screaming, unheard, stabbed. She had held onto his memory in her final moments.

Naomi looked at Mei Ling with pity as the woman's neck swelled, containing a discreet weep.

"Don't cry."

Naomi pulled back the hammer of the gun and shook her arm towards Mei Ling.

"Don't you bloody cry!"

Mei Ling looked up at the underwater metal coffin. It's walls creaked as the ocean around it screamed to get in.

"There's a bomb somewhere on this vessel". Naomi stated.

"I hope everybody's listening."

The crew all stood round. Their un-made plans of overpowering the woman in an attempt to regain control of the submarine were instantly unsettled.

"When the time is right, that bomb will be activated."

"Why are you doing this?" Mei Ling cried.

Naomi didn't reply.

"Answer me!" she screamed.

There was no response but the groaning of pressurised metal.

"Tell us where it is" one crew member walked forward.

Naomi raised her weapon and shot a bullet through the man's chest. His face hit the grated floor hard. Mei Ling juddered.

Everyone went silent and stared at Naomi.

"Back up." she stated quietly, but forcefully.

Everyone ushered backwards, against walls, through the doors, into corners.

Mei Ling sat on the wet floor, trembling in shock. She couldn't move.

"Mei Ling..." Naomi redirected her aim back at her friend.

Naomi's ear crackled static. She held her finger against it as she watched the others staring back at her in fear. There was a temporary pause.

"Ok. Tell him I love him."

Naomi slowly lowered her hand down to her pocket, unveiling a small metal trigger device. Her eyes watered as she looked around her at all the innocent men and women she would be murdering. The families that would suffer. Children without a father, without a mother. They would be fed a cover story, believing for their entire lives until their deathbed that their parents died in medically-related illnesses, local police casualties; anything but the truth. Just one little button. A simple action.

A tear fell down her cheek, and she sniffed in worry and doubt. Mei Ling slowly stood up, keeping her eyes fixed on Naomi's. They looked at each other in sorrow and emotional pain as Mei Ling moved towards Naomi until they both leant their heads forward, touching in a comforting relief. Mei Ling brought Naomi's hand up and held it as they cried together.

"You don't have to do this" Mei Ling whispered.

Naomi's tears began to stream as she trembled along with her friend, Mei Ling. Her head nodded slowly, then faster, then frantically as the thought raced through her mind.

Her polished nail pressed down on the small button. The submarine shook.

...

The vessel swam gracefully past a quiet island, drifting into the calm blue of the never-ending ocean. The waves far above cast rippled light on the hull of the submarine, dancing in beauty, scattering to and fro across the smooth plated metal in patterns visible to no one but nature herself.

A glorious flash of light appeared at the structure's rear, swallowing in the soft water surrounding it, imploding on itself. The submarine span off on a tilt, observing the world from an angle, turning slowly without care through the open waters. A heavenly glow lit moving debris, allowing it to leave the vessel in slow splendour.


	27. The Sinking Room

**- The Sinking Room -**

Mei Ling slapped Naomi in the face.

As the floor beneath them slanted, the walls around them groaned. The two, amongst with panicking crewmen looked at each other with fear and hatred. An alarm sounded, and the lighting around them flickered from dingy green to a blood red.

"Evacuation point one occupied." a digital voice crackled through aching metal. The two looked up at the speakers, as all crew members ran out of the control room towards the evacuation points. They knew there was no hope of survival this far beneath the surface of the ocean, but instinct pushed them to do something. Anything. Both Mei Ling and Naomi were already holding onto desk sides, as the floor slanted downwards towards the only doors in the room. The fleeing men were running towards the freezing cold water that broke the lower end of the vessel, tearing through the back half of its structure. The control room was at the bow, the front of the ship.

Papers began to slide off the edges of tables, tables that were bolted to the floor. Naomi placed her second hand on a desk, her face in mild shock.

"Why did you do it Naomi?!" Mei Ling shouted.

Naomi remained silent as her heels readjusted on the floor.

"Evacuation point two inaccessible. Please contact support."

The ship was no longer escapable. They were already in a sinking coffin, and now the nails had just been hammered in. The control room was at a twenty five degree angle, and Mei Ling felt a sudden compulsion to retrieve Nastasha's body to be with them. She let go of the side, and slowly shuffled to where the crew men had disappeared, only to see a body of water begin to fill the hallway through the door's small circular window. She didn't know what to do.

"Nastasha's in pieces, Ling. Don't leave."

Mei Ling turned around to look upwards at Naomi, who grabbed the side of a desk.

"Please. Don't leave."

"And why the hell should I bloody care?!" Mei Ling had never exclaimed her emotion through swearing, but everything that was happening made her lose any sense of rationality.

"Don't you dare tell me what not to do." Mei Ling was crying.

"You think this is easy?!" Naomi screamed from higher up in the room.

"Who the hell do you think you are, Naomi?!"

"You don't understand what I have been through..." Naomi spoke slowly through a blubbering lip. She wanted to cry as she saw her only friend lose the will to survive.

"I trusted you!"

The room was at a forty five degree angle, and water began dribbling through the hinges of the door as it groaned and cracked. Mei Ling turned back into the room and grabbed the nearest desk leg that was bolted to the ground. The small glass window in the door gave way under pressure, and a torrent of water burst out at Mei Ling. Naomi watched from further up in the room as her friend screamed in fear.

Mei Ling pulled herself up further, her sweating fingers grabbing at the holes in the grated floor, bleeding under the sharp edges. One shoe fell below, into the pool of water that was beginning to eat up the room. Fifty degree tilt.

"Abandon Ship. Abandon Ship. Abando..." the electronic voice malfunctioned and fell silent to the singing structure of the dying submarine.

The door below the two sprang off its hinges, propelling itself towards Mei Ling, who fell from her point on the floor. Naomi grabbed her hand.

The door smashed through the table, leaving only fragments of its legs jutting out from the floor. Its chips of wood and metal fell down the room and sank in the ice cold water below.

Mei Ling looked in Naomi's eyes for a moment. There was panic in her emotion. Neither knew what to say to each other, watching the ocean creep up the room towards them. There was no way out. They knew they were going to die.

Sixty degree tilt.

"I... refuse... to die here." Mei Ling chattered through trembling teeth.

She clambered up past Naomi using cupboard handles and other desk legs.

"Where are you going?"

Her skirt was wet, dripping at the bottom, and her hands were red with her own blood. Naomi shed a small tear, knowing nothing could stop their demise. Seeing her friend fight for her own life was worse than ending the Colonel's so abruptly. The ice crept up her leg. Screaming in the cold, she moved up towards Mei Ling, away from imminent death, towards a friend she had betrayed.

Seventy degree tilt.

Naomi pushed off desk ends with her heels, slipping under the wet trails from Mei Ling's skirt. The walls around them begged from pressure, and the room violently juddered as anything nothing not attached to the floor now flew past Naomi's face, splashing into the deadly water. Campbel's body rolled across the floor and got caught amongst degree before the water caught it, floating it upwards before it slowly sank from sight under the bubbles.

Eighty degree tilt.

Half the room was left, and the roar of the sinking submarine deafened any wince of fear that came from the two remaining crew members. Naomi joined Mei Ling at the top of the room, who supported herself standing on the legs of a destroyed table. Mei Ling was fumbling at controls above her, pushing whatever was left working.

"We can patch through to the codec from here!" Mei Ling shouted at Naomi, stood next to her. The water entering below was too loud for their speech to be heard.

Naomi didn't say anything. She knew it wouldn't work.

Mei Ling slammed her hand on the last lit up diode, and static whirred through into a nearby speaker. Naomi looked around, as the water began creeping up her feet once more. There was only a quarter of the room left, and her high heels slipped on the metal leg beneath the surface.

"Anyone?!" Mei Ling screamed into the microphone.

"Please! Snake! The submarine is sinking! Help us please! Do something! Anything!"

Static.

The ship was at a full ninety degree tilt, and sinking slowly into the darkness.

"Snaaaaaake!"

The table legs gave way, and the two fell deep into the ice cold water below. Knives of pain splintered Mei Ling's skin, freezing her from the outside in. They both struggled underwater, under the unbelievably cold white water.

A huge breath as the two surfaced and both let out screams of pain. There wasn't much breathing space left, and the microphone was nearly underwater. Mei Ling's ribcage tightened under the icy comb beneath her and her oxygen intake quickened, along with Naomi's.

Static still continued through the remaining speaker.

"Why did you do it?!" Mei Ling screamed at Naomi with running mascara.

Naomi was silent, slowly freezing to death.

"Tell me!" Mei Ling cried.

Naomi spoke slowly. "The Colonel knew."

"What?!"

"The Colonel knew everything."

"Everything?! What the hell do you mean?!"

The microphone disappeared below the water.

Knowing this was the end, Mei Ling took one last look in her friend's eyes before drinking in the last air and swimming down into the water only to scream her last words in the drowned microphone.

"Snaaaaaaake!"


	28. A Moment in Time

**- A Moment in Time -**

"Snake."

"Snake. Wake up."

David looked around. He was strapped to a chair, facing a window. Metal Gear REX stared at him through the bulletproof glass. Ocelot walked in front of him.

"You look old, Snake."

David looked at Ocelot in the face. Small wrinkles were appearing around his eyes, nose and mouth too. Vamp moved to his right. A tiny red circle had appeared on his head where he had once been shot.

"You won't be able to use REX. There's a trick to the key." Snake murmured.

"Which I already know." Ocelot retorted.

"But you don't have the actual key."

"You mean this?" Ocelot held up a tiny, thin card.

"The one you've been carrying around all this time is a fake."

David was exhausted. Everyone who had helped him was dead. Murdered. His need to find Meryl and Otacon was building by the second.

Liquid walked in slowly.

"Are we going to move this piece of cold metal to Arsenal then?" he asked Ocelot.

Ocelot paused and looked at the ground. He spoke quietly, as though his only intention of speaking was to allow a higher power to confirm it as the right thing to do.

"I don't care what they said. Never again."

Ocelot raised a loaded gun to Snake's brother. He shot Liquid dead.

"Shalashaska!" Mantis shouted. Everyone in the room was in shock, including Ocelot.

"You can't change fate!"

"I just did." Ocelot's voice was cold and blunt.

Everyone looked at each other.

"Load the car. We're moving."

The low rumble of water was playing through Snake's ear. Everyone who had brought him to the island was dead. Everyone he had come to rescue was dead.

Flashes of the gravestone. It's said that your life flashes in front of your eyes before you die. Irony, Snake thought.

Snake was punched back into conscious thought. Ocelot had hauled Snake's stumbling body onto the back of the vehicle.

"Vamp. Sort REX." Ocelot ordered.

Vamp turned on his heel and ran back through the door.

"Where's Otacon?" Snake mumbled to Decoy Octopus, who stood next to the car along with Psycho Mantis and Revolver Ocelot.

"The scientist is dead." Octopus leaned over.

"Don't handcuff him. He'll only be a hero. Oh, and for that matter, forget knocking him out" Ocelot spoke. The one-armed man whipped out a pistol and span it between his five remaining digits before shooting a bullet into both of David's kneecaps.

David screamed out in pain. He would have been used to the constant stream of pain by now, but his greying hair and rapidly aging skin was already making his body weak to light bumps, with bruises all across his face and chest.

"Don't worry Snake. It'll all be over soon." Ocelot affirmed.

People moved around Snake in slow motion. His world was slowing down. His body had taken enough. Decoy Octopus ran back towards the hanger leaving Ocelot starting up the van as Mantis sat next to Snake, listening to his thoughts. They were blank.

The cold, orange lit tunnel ahead was the exit, and the vehicle slowly began moving, each light burning a bright glow into David's eyes.

"Snake. Snake, listen to my voice."

Wind blew David's greying hair. He heard no voice. It was echoing though his head. He pushed a button on his suit, but no-one from his codec answered. Radio silence.

"Snake. I know you can hear me. Don't react. We can't change these events any more than what they have already."

Images flashed in his face. The island from the sky, Meryl's death, shooting the real DARPA Chief, shooting himself, the mad Colonel, Gray Fox crying… his feet hit the floor.

They sank softly into the snow as Snake stood outside the helipad, as though he'd never entered the building. The helicopter took off in front as Liquid left. Guards walked around in circles, monitoring the perimeter.

"David".

A calm voice spoke his name to the right. It was different from the other guards. He walked through the blizzard towards him in a tuxedo, so smart, so clean, so welcoming. He stopped in front of Snake with a smile on his face. Snake's body was young again, and he stood bolt upright with strong energy. He couldn't remember this man though. Of all the people he'd met in his life, this man was not one of them.

"Who are you?"

"David. You are not here. This is not the past."

"What do you mean?"

The man cleared his throat.

"This face is what I would have looked like had I not torched my own village as a child."

David knew who he was seeing.

"You are currently unconscious, weak and broken in the back of a van, ready to be driven to your death. You really don't understand how close we are to the end."

"What?" Snake took a step forward.

"But we have all the time we need. This scenario is being implanted in your memory. To you, this vision will flash by in a second. To us here, it could last much longer."

There was a pause.

"So, I'd like to start by taking you back to the conversation we had in the Commander's room."

The world flashed around Snake. Events rushed by the world, slowly concealed by wooden panels. The floor flashed various colours before a large carpet was laid on top. A desk appeared to his left, and book cases fell into place. Lastly, the image of Snake, Meryl and Otacon leaning over Mantis was placed by the desk. None of them could see him. None of them were moving. The event hadn't started. The sound of memories faded and the world was still.

"The ninth moment."

The suited Mantis next to Snake coughed lightly.

"Do you remember what I said during this moment?" Mantis questioned.

"You said Otacon shouldn't be here. You said I shouldn't change any more events."

"And yet you would."

Snake seemed confused. Like everything before this, nothing was making sense, and the more he understood the situation around him, the less he knew the truth. The first question that came to mind fell out of his lips like one of many drops of water from a dripping tap.

"If you could see my future, then why tell me something that wouldn't make any difference?"


End file.
